A SAMSON FAMILLE VERTE AND GILT-DECORATED POWDER BLUE-GROUND VASE AND COVER

A SAMSON FAMILLE VERTE AND GILT-DECORATED POWDER BLUE-GROUND VASE AND COVER

19TH CENTURY

The ovoid body raised on a small foot and surmounted by a short cylindrical neck, painted with large panels enclosing Chinese figures in gardens and traditional buildings, with smaller cartouches containing flowers to the shoulder and cover, the mottled dark blue ground decorated with further floral sprays in gilt, with a lingzhi mark to the base, 49cm. (2)

Provenance: from the collection of Professor Ronald N Arnold (1908-1963) and thence by descent. Professor Arnold was Regius Professor of Engineering at Edinburgh University from 1947 until his death. Following ill health, in 1953 he began to collect Chinese porcelain in his free time, buying most of his pieces from small antique shops and auctioneers in Edinburgh and London. Through the art historian David Talbot-Rice, Professor Arnold became acquainted with several experts in the field of East Asian ceramics, including Sir Harry Garner and Soame Jenyns.