Two Kangxi Famille Verte Porcelain Wine Cups

Kangxi c.1700

Two Finely Painted Kangxi Famille Verte Porcelain Wine Cups c.1700. Both have very similar decoration and probably start of life together. The Famille Verte decoration with over-glaze blue consists of panels set against a seeded sage green ground. The oval shaped cup has two panels of canted rectangular form decorated with flowering peony and insects. The circular cup which is on three small stumpy feet has three panels decorated precious objects. A Qin (musical instrument) is surrounded by a cup and stand, censer, lozenge and a musical stone. A group of books in iron oxide and gilt have a water pot and ladle, brush rest, lozenge and a Go counter box. The last panel shows two scrolls tied with green ribbon with bronze cymbals Bo above and below, there is also a wine pot and stand and a Ruyi sceptre.

SOLD

Condition: Both cups have two filled chips (discoloured yellow). Both handles lack their gilding. Two of the feet on the tripod cup have glaze loss. Some very minor fritting.
Size: Oval cup including handle ; length 7 cm (2 3/4 inches). Circular cup ; Diameter 5.5 cm (2 1/4 inches).
Provenance: Robert McPherson Antiques. The John Drew Collection of Chinese and Japanese Ceramics : John Drew was born in 1933 in Tideswell, Derbyshire, where his father was curate. The family moved to Norfolk whilst he was still a baby and his father became the rector of the parish of Intwood and Keswick. He was educated at Sedbergh School and after National Service in the R.A.F. being taught Russian, he went to Queens College, Oxford to read Greats (Classics). He spent nearly all his working life in various African countries as an archivist, moving to a post at Cape Town University in 1978. He remained in Cape Town after his retirement until his death in 2006. He had a great love of the English countryside (but not the climate) and this is shown in many of the pieces he collected. His taste was varied and ranged from Neolithic right through to the 18th Century. When we sent photograph to his home in Cape Town of pieces we thought he might be interested in, he would write long funny well observed letters back, wanting to add many of the items to his growing collection. Over the years we got to know him better and better, and during the last few years it was very rare for him to not want all the pieces we offered him. We knew his taste, even though his taste was so varied. This was in no small part because he had a very good eye and it was a pleasure finding things that interested him, because they were also very interesting to us. He never got to put his collection on display, something he hoped to do while on retirement in England, so it is with a mixture of pleasure and sadness that we offer these pieces from his collection. Each piece has a John Drew collection label, so when the collection is split up there will be some lasting record of the love and hard work he put into his two decades of collecting.
Stock number: 25143

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Information

The John Drew Collection of Chinese and Japanese Ceramics :
John Drew was born in 1933 in Tideswell, Derbyshire, where his father was curate. The family moved to Norfolk whilst he was still a baby and his father became the rector of the parish of Intwood and Keswick. He was educated at Sedbergh School and after National Service in the R.A.F. being taught Russian, he went to Queens College, Oxford to read Greats (Classics). He spent nearly all his working life in various African countries as an archivist, moving to a post at Cape Town University in 1978. He remained in Cape Town after his retirement until his death in 2006. He had a great love of the English countryside (but not the climate) and this is shown in many of the pieces he collected. His taste was varied and ranged from Neolithic right through to the 18th Century. When we sent photograph to his home in Cape Town of pieces we thought he might be interested in, he would write long funny well observed letters back, wanting to add many of the items to his growing collection. Over the years we got to know him better and better, and during the last few years it was very rare for him to not want all the pieces we offered him. We knew his taste, even though his taste was so varied. This was in no small part because he had a very good eye and it was a pleasure finding things that interested him, because they were also very interesting to us. He never got to put his collection on display, something he hoped to do while on retirement in England, so it is with a mixture of pleasure and sadness that we offer these pieces from his collection. Each piece has a John Drew collection label, so when the collection is split up there will be some lasting record of the love and hard work he put into his two decades of collecting.