Antique Chinese Porcelain Kangxi Famille Verte Caster/Sander, ca 1700

Vibrant Prosperity: A Famille Verte 'Flower Basket' Dish from the Kangxi Golden Age This magnificent Chinese Export porcelain dish, dating to the height of the Kangxi Period (c. 1700-1710), is a resplendent example of the famed famille verte (green family) palette. This enameling technique, characterized by its brilliant, translucent greens, yellows, and blues, reached its zenith under the patronage of the Kangxi Emperor, ushering in a golden age of ceramic production at the imperial kilns in Jingdezhen (Guest and Gray). Auspicious Symbolism and Design Mastery The dish is a feast of intricate design and rich symbolism, centered on an openwork beribboned basket of peony and lotus flowers. The flower basket motif is highly auspicious in Chinese art, being one of the attributes of the Daoist Immortal Lan Caihe, and symbolizes longevity and good fortune (Sotheby's, Lot 657, 2015). This meaning is powerfully reinforced by the inclusion of a central shou character (寿) in the basket, the Chinese ideograph for Longevity, a core wish in Chinese culture for a long, healthy, and prosperous life (Metropolitan Museum of Art). The presence of the shou character, often incorporated into designs for Imperial birthday celebrations during this era, underscores the dish's grand and celebratory intent. The radial design radiates outward with petal-shaped reserves in the cavetto, each containing detailed flowering plants issuing from rockwork, all set against a signature pale-green stippled ground (Dizi). The border completes the composition with an ornate pattern of green trellis-work punctuated by iron-red flower heads, alternating with oval panels containing various Precious Objects (Ba Gu), further emphasizing wealth and good fortune. This large dish, at over 14 inches in diameter, was one of the exquisite items commissioned for the European export market, particularly by the Dutch East India Company (VOC), where its vibrant colors and complex iconography were highly prized by wealthy clientele (Guest and Gray). The reverse, painted in underglaze blue with delicate floral sprays, maintains a link to the more traditional Chinese aesthetic. This piece is a tangible embodiment of the technical sophistication and artistic brilliance that made Kangxi famille verte porcelain...

This gorgeous centerpiece has been created by the fortuitous marriage of a 17th century, Kangxi Period Famille verte enameled porcelain charger...

A large and magnificent Chinese famille verte enameled porcelain large dish or charger, Qing Dynasty, Kangxi Period (1662 - 1722), circa 1700, China. The shallow, shaped dish of fo...

This exquisite 19th-century Chinese porcelain famille verte centerpiece bowl is a remarkable example of traditional craftsmanship and decorative artistry. With a generous diameter of...

Pair of Antique Silver Casters Persia C.1920. Silver hexagonal salt and pepper shakers fully decorated with Assyrian motifs. 84 hallmarks on bases. Height: 1.75 inches. Weight: 57.16...

A very fine and large 19th century Chinese export famille verte porcelain and French figural ormolu-mounted Chinoiserie style centerpiece jardinière, in the manner of Edward Holmes Baldock (1777-1845). The circular-ovoid porcelain bowl or cachepot, maybe 18th century Jiaqing period (unverified), decorated with a blue and purple ground background with parcel gilt depicting pagodas, trees, mountains and landscape scenes, flanking scrolled handles issuing from the base and ending with a finely chased ormolu pierced acanthus rim. The two ends with a projected mask of Chinese Imperial lions or foo dogs, surmounted and raised on six finely chased ormolu masks of Bacchus satyrs flanked by seashell-like mounts. The Ormolu, circa Paris, 1880. The Porcelain circa 1800 (Maybe 18th century.) Measures: Height: 15 3/4 inches (40 cm.) Overall width: 21 inches (53.4 cm.) Depth: 17 inches (43.2 cm.) Edward Holmes Baldock (1777-1845) was a prominent London furniture dealer to the Royal Family, father of Edward Holmes Baldock. He was first listed in the London trade directories in 1805. That listing had him operating out of No.7 Hanway Street in London, where he was described as selling "china and glass". An updated listing in 1821 described his business as "an antique furniture and ornamental furniture dealer", and in 1826 as a buyer and seller of "china, cabinets, screens, bronzes etc". Between 1832 and 1837 he sold earthenware and glass products to William IV, and upon the ascendancy of Queen Victoria in 1837, sold china until his death in 1845. Baldock was one of the first antique dealers and is similar to the 18th century marchands-merciers Dominique Daguerre and Simon-Philippe. He was the father of Edward Holmes Baldock (1812-1875), a British Conservative Party politician, and of Mary Frances Baldock, wife of the philatelist W. A. S. Westoby. Famille Verte Famille verte (????, Kangxi wucai...

English Georgian sterling silver condiment shaker, late 18th century. Baluster on raised foot. Cover pierced with engraved diaper and twisted finial. Worn marks include crowned T (bo...

George V sterling silver sugar caster. Made by William Hutton & Sons, Ltd in Sheffield in 1911. Girdled baluster on domed foot. Cover has ornamental piercing and vasiform finial. Ful...

George V sterling silver sugar caster. Made by Harrison Bros & Howson in London in 1911. Baluster with applied shell-mounted garland on domed foot with chased imbricated leaf-and-flo...

Large antique silver sugar caster, London 1899, William Gibson. The caster on pedestal base rising to tapered baluster body all with lobat...