A pair of bottle vases

Kangxi period, 1662–1722
China

height: 46.5 cm

The vases are decorated in underglaze iron red and overglaze cold gilding – the latter in remarkably good condition. The painting of underglaze copper oxide red on porcelain was developed in China in the 14th century. At that time, the technique was never wholly satisfactory because there was a high degree of failure – and the process thus proved uneconomical. The method was seldom used after the early Ming period. There was, however, a revival in the 17th century, in Kangxi’s reign, when the pigment was fired with considerable success – as can be seen in the celebrated sang de boeuf and peach bloom wares.

Each vase has a bulbous body that rests on a short circular foot, and a long elegant neck slightly waisted in the middle. The necks are encircled – top and bottom – with a single row of acanthus leaves, and a diaper border is punctuated by cartouches depicting single sprigs of lotus flowers. The shoulders are painted with a row of staggered scallops – in-filled with scroll leaves and a single chrysanthemum – and these hang down to the centre point of each body. Below, the bottom halves of the vases are sparsely decorated with five single sprigs of two lotus flowers attached to a stem, and scrolling leaves that contrast with the white glazed porcelain. The beauty of these vases exists in their simple form combined with the elegance and understatement of the palette.

similar example
‘La Maladie de Porcelaine’ East Asian Porcelain from the Collection of Augustus the Strong, edition Leipzig 2001 – no.18 illustrates a vase of the same shape and technique in decoration.