70.
A ‘BLUE AND WHITE’ OVOID JAR AND COVER, GUAN
Qing dynasty, Kangxi period, late 17th–early 18th century
26,5 cm high
Provenance: Naples, Villa della Floridiana, Museo Duca di Martina, Placido de Sangro (1829-1891) collection.
inv. n. 3432.
Surmounted by a domed cover, the ovoid body painted in bright blue enamel with a group of the One Hundred Antiques (bogu), the shoulder with a band of ruyi heads, the cover with half prunus flower heads and some of the Eight Precious Things (babao), a pair of concentric circles to the centre of the base.
Books, bronze vessels and scrolls are a popular motif for the decoration of porcelain during the Kangxi reign. They belong to that heterogeneous group of items related to the literati world which is known as the ‘One Hundred Antiques’ (bogu), where the number hundred refers only to a multitude of elements and not to a precise number.
