QIANLONG PERIOD (1736-1795)

In 1717 the porcelain-obsessed Augustus the Strong (1670-1733), Elector of Saxony and King of Poland, famously traded six hundred of his own cavalrymen, known as dragoons, to Frederick the Great of Prussia, in exchange for a collection of 150 Chinese porcelain vases; eighteen of which were imposing floor vases, of the same scale as the present lot. Thereafter these monumental vases were known as 'dragoon vases' (dragonervasen) or 'soldier vases'. Extremely difficult to make, to pack and to ship, these massive vases were destined for the European elite, where they stood guard in ballrooms and great halls of palaces and country houses. The Jesuit traveler to Jingdezhen, Père d'Entrecolles, recorded in his famous letters, "...Urns above three Foot high without the Lid...out of twenty-four eight only succeeded...These Works were bespoke by the Merchants of Canton for the European trade."