A Massive Powder-blue And Blue And White Guglet Vase - China, 18th Kangxi Period

A porcelain guglet vase decorated in powder blue and blue and white with the Hundred Antiques. The body is decorated with vases and precious objects within reserved cartouches. The long neck is decorated with archaic vessels within cartouches and terminates in a slightly flared mouth.
China, 18th
Kangxi Period (1661–1722)

Height : 45,3cm

For a similar vase, see:

- Christie’s, London, 29 March 1982, lot 22.
- Sotheby’s, Paris, Arts d’Asie, 12 December 2013, lot 162, from the Bernheimer Collection.
- Christie’s Pictorial History of Chinese Ceramics, Anthony du Boulay, London, 1984, p. 198, no. 5.

The form of this vase is known as a guglet. The term guglet (or gourgoulet) derives from the Portuguese gurguleta, itself borrowed from Persian. It literally means ‘gurgling’ in Portuguese, and is therefore associated with the gurgling sound that the liquid may produce when poured. The English term ‘guglet’ , when applied to objects, refers to vases with a long neck and a swelling at the end, used in Asia to cool water by evaporation. These vases were originally intended for serving water, and their form made it easy to hold and pour the water. Nevertheless, the considerable size of the present example probably excludes this possibility and gives it a decorative function.

The Hundred Antiques BÓGǓ motif is a decoration bringing together several emblematic objects, notably the Eight Treasures, the Four Treasures, and the symbols of the Four Fine Arts (music, literature, calligraphy and painting).

Provenance :
- Robert McPherson, London
- Peter and Mary White’s Collection, United-Kingdom

A small hole, approximately 3 cm in diameter, probably intended to allow an electrical wire to pass through, has been filled. A small break to the neck has been professionally restored and now invisible.

More informations and photos on request.