Guformad med dekor i underglasyrblått av figurscen samt trädgårdsvy med blommor och fågel inom reserver. Höjd 44 cm.
Lagade sprickor.
Purchased at Guest & Gray 2006.
The Avalon Collection Part II.
This collection, which in the main focuses on the Interregnum and Kangxi periods has been both carefully and sensitively formed over the last twenty-five years. The collector, a member of the English Oriental Ceramic Society, has assembled the collection with an eye for provenance whilst purchasing from old European collections, well-established antique dealers and at auction.
Academically, the pieces have been well researched both in terms of their symbolism and narrative themes. In many instances the imagery on the pieces has been referenced to episodes in the romantic and historic novels of Chinese mythology, which were used extensively in the decoration of seventeenth century Chinese porcelain.
For a pair of vases of similar shape and size, see Sotheby’s New York, “ Inspired: Chinese Art from the Collection of Gerson & Judith Leiber”, 20 March 2018, Lot 422.
The shape of the vessel is based on an archaic bronze vessel known as the Gu, which was originally used to offer sacrificial wine to one’s ancestors during the Zhang and Western Zhou periods.