Two Chinese export porcelain cups with saucers, two cups, and a figurine, Qing Dynasty, 18th century.

Christies Nanking Cargo lots 5169 and 5729.
Götheborg.

The Stenbeck Collection. The collection encompasses a broad array of Chinese porcelain crafted during the late Ming and early Qing dynasties, catering to domestic, Japanese, and European markets. It primarily focuses on porcelain created during the interregnum period between the two dynasties. However, as an academic collector, it is evident that Mr Stenbeck has expanded the scope of the collection over the years, both reaching forward and delving back in time to enhance it.

Mr Stenbeck is an active participant in the Swedish Oriental Ceramics society and has generously shared his expertise on the transitional period, delivering numerous lectures on the intriguing, often humorous and whimsical evolution of the free expression methods, evident in both the decoration and forms of this era.

The collection was showcased at the Heinola Museum in Finland in 2000, under the exhibition title "The Liberated Brush". This title refers to the cessation of court patronage and the increased artistic liberty that craftsmen enjoyed as they adapted to shifting commercial demands during a period of economic and political instability in China.