218.
A PAIR OF ‘IMARI’ BALUSTER VASES AND COVERS
Qing dynasty, late Kangxi period
… cm high each
Provenance: Naples, Villa della Floridiana, Museo Duca di Martina, Placido de Sangro (1829-1891) collection.
inv. nn. …..
The splayed base rising to rounded walls surmounted by a short cylindrical neck, the domed cover with flat rim and a lotus bud shaped finial, the exterior of both the vases painted in underglaze blue, overglaze red and gold, the decoration on the body consisting in large panels with different floral compositions each divided from the other by a vertical stripe, toward the base and near the shoulders a series of jagged panels with lotus scrolls, the same decoration adapted to the shape of the covers.
Large vases like these were explicitly produced in China for Europe where they were exhibited as a sign of distinction and refined taste in the spacious rooms of the princely palaces then furnished in the lavish Baroque style. Their shape and decoration is clearly inspired by Japanese vases exported in big quantities from the late seventeenth century
