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Lot Essay
This is known as a Hampton Court vase from its association with Queen Mary II's collection at Hampton Court.
The earliest account of such jars is to be found in an account of a sale in Holland in 1680 'The red assortment was much desired. 36 show pots for cabinets, cost price 2 florins, nine s. sold at Enkuisen for 140 florins' (the reference to red assortment was the term used for polychrome decorated vases in the seventeenth century).
Queen Mary first visited Hampton Court in 1689 and by her death in December 1694 she had amassed a large collection of porcelain. In an inventory of March 24, 1696-7 there are listed 780 pieces of China with their exact positions in each of eleven rooms, including 'coloured jarrs of six squares. 'Descriptions of the collection can be found in the Travels of Celia Fiennes who visited Hampton Court soon after the Queen's death 'There was the Water Gallery......decked with China....', John Evelyn's diaries (July 13, 1693 and April 23, 1696) and Defoe's Tour thro' the Whole Island of Great Britain (1724-1727).
The above jars fall into one of the three categories of design usually found on the Hampton Court vase:
a. A floral display on each facet
b. A ho-o bird and floral display alternately on each facet (as in this lot)
c. Ho-o birds, cranes and ladies amongst flowers and foliage alternately on two facets.
Much of the porcelain from the original collection has been dispersed, since after the Queen's death a proportion was left to Arnold Joost van Keppel, first Earl Albemarle. Several examples are still at Hampton Court, with others in the Royal Collections at Buckingham Palace and Windsor Castle.
The earliest account of such jars is to be found in an account of a sale in Holland in 1680 'The red assortment was much desired. 36 show pots for cabinets, cost price 2 florins, nine s. sold at Enkuisen for 140 florins' (the reference to red assortment was the term used for polychrome decorated vases in the seventeenth century).
Queen Mary first visited Hampton Court in 1689 and by her death in December 1694 she had amassed a large collection of porcelain. In an inventory of March 24, 1696-7 there are listed 780 pieces of China with their exact positions in each of eleven rooms, including 'coloured jarrs of six squares. 'Descriptions of the collection can be found in the Travels of Celia Fiennes who visited Hampton Court soon after the Queen's death 'There was the Water Gallery......decked with China....', John Evelyn's diaries (July 13, 1693 and April 23, 1696) and Defoe's Tour thro' the Whole Island of Great Britain (1724-1727).
The above jars fall into one of the three categories of design usually found on the Hampton Court vase:
a. A floral display on each facet
b. A ho-o bird and floral display alternately on each facet (as in this lot)
c. Ho-o birds, cranes and ladies amongst flowers and foliage alternately on two facets.
Much of the porcelain from the original collection has been dispersed, since after the Queen's death a proportion was left to Arnold Joost van Keppel, first Earl Albemarle. Several examples are still at Hampton Court, with others in the Royal Collections at Buckingham Palace and Windsor Castle.