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Lot Essay
A very rare form, which seems to be unrecorded in the literature, although another example appeared on the art market in 2002. The character of the decoration and of the porcelain itself relates closely to other blue and white of the period.
Pet birds and birdcages were a beloved part of domestic life in both China and Europe. Images of birdcages with little yellow songbirds were a favorite in the repetoire at both Delft in Holland and Lille in France. See H.-P. Fourest, Delftware, Rizzoli, 1980, for an elaborate example flanked at the bottom by small Chinoiserie figures. In China birdcages were made of precious materials for the court as well as of humble bamboo for everyman. Even today in parks across China old men can be observed with their birdcages, meeting friends to socialize and to give their birds some air. A Westerner's request for a porcelain birdcage would have been easily understood in China in this period
Pet birds and birdcages were a beloved part of domestic life in both China and Europe. Images of birdcages with little yellow songbirds were a favorite in the repetoire at both Delft in Holland and Lille in France. See H.-P. Fourest, Delftware, Rizzoli, 1980, for an elaborate example flanked at the bottom by small Chinoiserie figures. In China birdcages were made of precious materials for the court as well as of humble bamboo for everyman. Even today in parks across China old men can be observed with their birdcages, meeting friends to socialize and to give their birds some air. A Westerner's request for a porcelain birdcage would have been easily understood in China in this period