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Lot Essay
See Nuno de Castro, Chinese Porcelain and the Heraldry of the Empire, Oporto, 1988, p. 86 for a famille rose altar vase with the heraldic device depicted very similarly and in the same enamels as that in the present lot; it is also encircled by pink acanthus leaves, although the vase is also decorated with scrolling flowers and ornate bands and lappets. This vase, or a very similar one, was included in the exhibition Reflections, Symbols and Images of Christianity on Chinese Porcelain, Museu de São Roque, 1997, catalogue no. 47, p. 112; Chinese bottle vases decorated in underglaze blue and white with very similar heraldic devices are also recorded. However, the exact convents or monasteries for which these items were ordered have not been established.
The unusual shape of this stand is closely related to the lower sections of a pair of slightly earlier verte-Imari candlesticks which bear the arms of Francisco José de Sampaio Melo e Castro (see Nuno de Castro, op.cit., p. 67 for a monteith with these arms), and which sold Sotheby's London, 9 June 2004, lot 109.
The unusual shape of this stand is closely related to the lower sections of a pair of slightly earlier verte-Imari candlesticks which bear the arms of Francisco José de Sampaio Melo e Castro (see Nuno de Castro, op.cit., p. 67 for a monteith with these arms), and which sold Sotheby's London, 9 June 2004, lot 109.