Doe and Hope

Description

The beautiful pair of finely crazed Famille Rose vases having a ocre brown body, extremely well enamelled depicting blue or pink dragons amongst peony and leaves, the shoulders with iron oxide mask and ring handles, the mouth with ruyi, the bases with an incised Chenghua mark, the pair surviving from the zeniths of eighteenth century China.

The vases are in pretty good order save one chip to one of the rims whereby a 2 cms section is absent. There is no other damage, restoration or cracks to note.

All too easily dismissed as '19th century', these ancestors of the Canton style are far higher quality. The crazing is beautiful and the finish is fine with the colours still vivid.

The Dragon is perhaps the most well recognised of all Chinese symbols. The Chinese dragon is the ultimate symbol of the cosmic energy and the most powerful symbol of good fortune. Ranked first among mythical beasts, it can bring rain to parched lands, which in turn represents abundance and relief. The dragon is often used as an emblem of high rank and power on the robes of emperors and princes as well as on imperial art objects. The Peony (mudan 牧丹) is known as the 'king of the flowers', and is a symbol of royalty and virtue. It is also called the 'flower of wealth and honour' (fuguihua 富貴花) and is widely used to represent wealth and honour. The two symbols combined are reinforcing each other as both are the ultimate symbols of their respective fields.

Vases such as this would not look out of place in the Brighton Pavilion, we’d suggest the yellow drawing room, and for that, we love them.