A Chinese Tea Canister, Kangxi, circa 1720
This Kangxi Chinese eight-sided tea canister is painted with a continuous Chinese landscape in shades of underglaze blue. A tiny dwelling nestles on a slope beneath a pine tree, with distant mountains and watery valleys beyond. One half of the top is painted with a small hut beside a bridge, the other half with a hut beside vegetation. The top rim is dressed with a light brown wash, and the tactile glaze has a wonderful silkiness to it. The base is unglazed.
Unmarked.
The late 19th-century engraved silver collar is marked ‘Simonet Bruxelles 900’. It is unusual to find Belgian silver mounts and covers in conjunction with Chinese porcelain as they are nearly always Dutch.
Condition: No cracks or restoration. There are typical minor frits to the rims, known as ‘mouse nibbles’ to the early Japanese collectors of Chinese porcelain.
Dimensions: Height (to top of finial) 12 cm
Chinese Export Ceramics, Rose Kerr and Luisa E. Mengoni (V&A Publishing, 2011).
Ref. Jeweller-retailer Alphonse Joseph Simonet (Oisquercq, 1846 – Brussels, 1897). In 1876 he was based at 42 boulevard de la Senne (no. changed to 38 in 1880) in Brussels. On 6 January 1885, he moved to no 38 (no changed to 42 in 1890).
SOLD