Live Auction 21052Ombersley Court: The Collection of Lord and Lady Sandys
A PAIR OF CHINESE BLUE AND WHITE 'SOLDIER' VASES AND COVERS
Lot 8

A PAIR OF CHINESE BLUE AND WHITE 'SOLDIER' VASES AND COVERS

QING DYNASTY, KANGXI PERIOD, 1662-1722

Closed29 November 2023

Price Realised

GBP 491,400

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A PAIR OF CHINESE BLUE AND WHITE 'SOLDIER' VASES AND COVERS
QING DYNASTY, KANGXI PERIOD, 1662-1722
Each with domed cover, the tall tapered baluster bodies decorated in rich blue, the neck with a border of upright plantain leaves, the banded decoration below depicting chilong amidst foliage and lotus scrollwork, with stylised lotuses around the foot, paper label '47' and with brown enamel inscription to the inside cover 'L343'
40 in. (102 cm.) high
Please note that 100% of the hammer proceeds from this auction will be paid to the Sandys Trust, registered charity number: 1168357, with the exception of limited deductions towards sale costs across the auction which cannot be accurately calculated at this time, capped at a total of £10,000.

Specialist note

Vases from this series are often referred to as 'soldier' or 'dragoon' vases following an event in 1717, when Augustus the Strong (1670-1733), King of Poland, Elector of Saxony and porcelain collector, exchanged a regiment of 600 soldiers for a group of porcelain including several blue and white Kangxi period vases of this monumental size. Those vases came from the collection of Friedrich Wilhelm I of Prussia and had been housed within his own porcelain collection at Schloss Oranienburg.

A set of seven, formerly in the collection of Augustus the Strong and now in the Staatliche Kunstsammlungen, Dresden, is illustrated in China. Japan. Meissen. The Dresden Porcelain Collection, Dresden, 2006, p. 6. There is a pair of near identical vases, of conforming dimensions, from this series in The Royal Collection (RCIN 43929).Those vases were acquired by Princess Sophia (1777–1848), fifth daughter of George III and are on display in the Queen's Audience Chamber, Windsor Castle and are illustrated in John Ayers, Chinese and Japanese Works of Art in the Collection of Her Majesty the Queen, vol. 1, London, 2016, pls. 352, 353. A single vase, also from this series, lacking cover, was sold, Sotheby's, London, 6 November 2019, lot 194 (£106,250).