Carved from brilliant green jade with evenly distributed dark flecks, this superb pair of vases once belonged to Doris Duke (1912–1993), the American tobacco heiress and noted collector. The only child of industrialist James Buchanan Duke, founder of the American Tobacco Company, Doris Duke inherited the majority of his vast fortune at the age of twelve, earning the sobriquet “the richest little girl in the world.” Through prudent management, she expanded her inheritance into an estate valued at approximately $1.2 billion at the time of her death, the greater part of which was bequeathed to the Doris Duke Foundation.