112.
A ‘BLUE AND WHITE’ BOWL AND COVER WITH GILT METAL MOUNT
the bowl Qing dynasty, Kangxi period, early 18th century; the mount probably French, second half of the 18th century
16 x 16,2 cm
Provenance: Naples, Villa della Floridiana, Museo Duca di Martina, Placido de Sangro (1829-1891) collection.
inv. n. 4084.
The bowl and the cover decorated to the exterior with sprays of flowers inside cartouches with ruyi-head lobed profiles, the gilt bronze mount consisting in a heavy ring surrounding the base, two vertical leaves-shaped insets rising to the two handles, the mouth of the bowl and the lower section of the cover underlined with rings, the cover surmounted with a ribbed hemispherical handle with a flower tip finial.
It is not rare that the gilt bronze mount applied in Europe has a superior quality respect to the Chinese porcelain for which it was conceived. In this cup it shows accentuated neoclassical features, giving the composition as a whole harmony and balance.
