CATALOGUE NUMBER 0266

BLUE & WHITE BANJO-FORM

BALUSTER SQUARE-SECTION VASE

KANGXI PERIOD (1661-1722)

DIMENSIONS

Height: 16 ½ inches

 

PROVENANCE

Ralph M. Chait Galleries, New York, 2000

 

CATALOGUE NOTES

Fine and rare blue and white banjo vase, of quadrangular form with everted lip and bulbous banjo shaped body, resting upon an expanding hollow quadrangular pedestal foot with flat underfoot. Each side of the vase is decorated with two scenes separated by a narrow diaper band at the shoulder containing a quatrefoil reserve filled with a "Precious Object". The upper section of each side (along the neck) is decorated with a mountainous landscape with literati figures and pavilions. The lower sections of each side (along the body) are decorated with figural scenes of a Mandarin being served a cup of wine by a kneeling servant in an outdoor setting; an outdoor meeting between a court lady (with servants) and a gentleman, who stands holding the tether of a water buffalo; a gentleman seated before a shrine in an outdoor setting with his servant and wheeled sedan chair behind him; and gentlemen playing weiqi on the balcony of a palace pavilion. Each side of the foot is decorated with a diaper ground containing a quatrefoil reserve in the center filled with flowering trees, plants, and rockery. The interior of the vase is glazed white. The underfoot is left in biscuit and has a firing hole in its center (It is characteristic for a banjo vase to have a deep, hollow foot. A firing hole was inserted so it would fire without cracking or warping.) The underglaze blue is of varying hue and somewhat silvery blue in tone as found on pieces from this period. Background: This form of vase is extremely rare, particularly in blue and white. In Ralph M. Chait Galleries' research, it came across only two.