Page 36 - Tabor Collection Christie's New York April 10 2019

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A PAIR OF ROSE-IMARI 'SOLDIER' VASES AND COVERS
YONGZHENG/ EARLY QIANLONG PERIOD, CIRCA 1735
Each painted with two phoenixes facing each other, their wings outspread,
amidst a profusion of large peony, chrysanthemum and other blooms growing
in a fenced garden, an underglaze blue ground collar above, the cover of
conforming decoration with a Buddhist lion fnial, with modern giltwood
stands
52 in. (132.1 cm.) high (6)
$175,000-275,000
PROVENANCE:
With The Chinese Porcelain Co., New York, 1996.
LITERATURE:
Chinese Glass Paintings & Export Porcelain, The Chinese Porcelain Company,
New York, 1996, p. 88-89, no. 57.
The Chinese Porcelain Company: A Dealer's Record 1985-2000, The Chinese
Porcelain Company, New York, 2000, p. 131.
William R. Sargent, Chinese Porcelain in the Conde Collection, Madrid, 2014, p.
306, no. 127.

The tale of Augustus the Strong (1670-1733), the porcelain-obsessed
Elector of Saxony and King of Poland who traded Frederick the Great a
regiment of dragoons for a collection of Chinese porcelain, is well-known.
The dragonervases or 'soldier' vases in this trade were earlier in date than
the present pair, with tapering sides and underglaze blue decoration. But
vases of this massive scale remained one of the most desirable of all Chinese
porcelains for the next decades of the 18th century, as colorful palettes and
the baluster shape became fashionable.
Extremely dificult to make, to pack and to ship, these vases were destined
for Europe's elites, where they stood guard in ballrooms and great halls
of palaces and country houses. The Jesuit traveler to Jingdezhen, Père
d'Entrecolles, recorded in his famous letters, "...Urns above three Foot high
without the Lid...out of twenty-four eight only suceeded...These Works were
bespoke by the Merchants of Canton for the European trade."
The stately phoenix on the present pair are perhaps the most exalted of
all Chinese birds, symbolic of sun and warmth for summer and harvest
and closely associated with the Empress - though this was likely
lost on the European grandees who would have frst owned this
pair, who undoubtedly viewed them simply as captivatingly exotic
Asian birds.
A pair in this palette of very similar, though more restrained,
decoration was in the collection of celebrated Belle Epoque
character Boniface de Castellane and his wife, the American
railroad heiress Anna Gould, at their famous Parisian hôtel
particulier, the Palais Rose, and sold Christie's Paris, 7
March 2017, lot 31.

34 THE TIBOR COLLECTION