QING DYNASTY, KANGXI PERIOD, 1662-1722

Vases from this series are often referred to as 'soldier' or 'dragoon' vases following an event in 1717, when Augustus the Strong (1670-1733), King of Poland, Elector of Saxony and porcelain collector, exchanged a regiment of 600 soldiers for a group of porcelain including several blue and white Kangxi period vases of this monumental size. Those vases came from the collection of Friedrich Wilhelm I of Prussia and had been housed within his own porcelain collection at Schloss Oranienburg.

A set of seven, formerly in the collection of Augustus the Strong and now in the Staatliche Kunstsammlungen, Dresden, is illustrated in China. Japan. Meissen. The Dresden Porcelain Collection, Dresden, 2006, p. 6. There is a pair of near identical vases, of conforming dimensions, from this series in The Royal Collection (RCIN 43929).Those vases were acquired by Princess Sophia (1777–1848), fifth daughter of George III and are on display in the Queen's Audience Chamber, Windsor Castle and are illustrated in John Ayers, Chinese and Japanese Works of Art in the Collection of Her Majesty the Queen, vol. 1, London, 2016, pls. 352, 353. A single vase, also from this series, lacking cover, was sold, Sotheby's, London, 6 November 2019, lot 194 (£106,250).