130.
A ‘FAMILLE VERTE’ ROULEAU BALUSTER VASE
Qing dynasty, Kangxi period, late 17th century
44 cm high
Provenance: Naples, Villa della Floridiana, Museo Duca di Martina, Placido de Sangro (1829-1891) collection.
inv. n. 3731.
The kind of ethereal decoration on this vase – with the beautiful young ladies and the happy children playing with dragonflies (qingting, a widespread symbol of summer, delicacy and evanescence), the scene set in a dreaming landscape – was greatly admired at the time of the early arrivals of such ‘Famille Verte’ porcelain. At the eyes of the Europeans, it describes a still mysterious and wonderful country where beauty and peace reigned uncontested.
According to Rose Kerr (R. Kerr, Chinese Ceramics. Porcelain of the Qing dynasty (1644-1911), London 1986, p. 98), groups with large figures such as the one depicted on the body of this vase, suggest an early date in the Kangxi reign.
