A ‘BLUE AND WHITE’ OVOID VASE WITH SILVER COVER

77.

A ‘BLUE AND WHITE’ OVOID VASE WITH SILVER COVER
the vase Qing dynasty, Kangxi period, late 17th century; the cover probably Dutch, 18th century
17 cm high
Provenance: Naples, Villa della Floridiana, Museo Duca di Martina, Placido de Sangro (1829-1891) collection.
inv. n. 3517.

The rounded sides rising to a short cylindrical neck surmounted by a flat silver cover, the exterior of the body decorated with a series of horizontal bands of stylized flowers, geometric motifs and ruyi heads.

The European silver cover – worked with a scene with Apollo playing the zither together with a bird, a dog and a horse – substitutes the original porcelain domed lid which should be analogous to the one on the similarly decorated piece in the Rijksmuseum, Amsterdam (J. Van Campen, Supplement to Chinese ceramics in the collection of the Rijksmuseum, Amsterdam. The Ming and Qing dynasties, in collaboration  with C.J.A. Jörg, Amsterdam 1997, p. 19, n. 163).