KANGXI

Details

A fine large blue and white five-piece garniture
KANGXI
Comprising three baluster vases and covers and a pair of beaker vases, each of octagonal outline and painted in deep tones of cobalt blue with large vertical panels of flowering plants, including hydrangea, prunus, roses and magnolia, with insects and butterflies hovering above small birds on some of the gnarled branches, all edged in scrolling vine borders, the shoulders with swirling tassels of fruit and flowers, the domed covers repeating the smaller panels and centered by large flower-bud knops, one rim chipped, frittings and minor polish
the jars circa 54 cm. high, the vases circa 46 cm. high (5)

Special notice

Christie's charges a Buyer's premium calculated at 23.205% of the hammer price for each lot with a value up to €110,000. If the hammer price of a lot exceeds €110,000 then the premium for the lot is calculated at 23.205% of the first €110,000 plus 11.9% of any amount in excess of €110,000. Buyer's Premium is calculated on this basis for each lot individually.

Lot Essay

Like so many forms in export porcelain, five-piece garnitures derive from a purely Chinese archetype. Chinese altar garnitures, made for use in both temples and homes (and metalwork as often as ceramic), were by long tradition comprised of a central incense burner flanked by a pair of pricket candlesticks and a pair of beaker vases. Western traders adopted this general scheme for a purely decorative, non-secular purpose. As A. du Boulay puts it (Christie's Pictorial History of Chinese Ceramics, p. 253), "The sets of five were the ideal number for the European chimneypiece or the large Dutch cupboard." A set of this grand scale was obviously intended for a very important house, where they may have stood on the floor of the hall or in front of the fireplace in summer as easily as on top of a sideboard or massive bookcase".

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