A RARE JAPANESE KAKIEMON 'HAMPTON COURT' VASE AND COVER

A RARE JAPANESE KAKIEMON 'HAMPTON COURT' VASE AND COVER
EDO PERIOD, 1670-90

The slender hexagonal body with tapering sides and a short straight neck, each side painted with tall sprays of iris painted in yellow, cyan, iron-red, navy-blue and black overglaze enamels; the shoulder and cover with matching patterns of karakusa scrolls and red peony flowerheads; the neck with a key fret border and the bud-shaped knop both in underglaze blue, 37.5cm. (2)

Cf. J Ayers, O Impey, JVG Mallet, Porcelain for Palaces, The Fashion for Japan in Europe 1650-1750, p.173, no.153, for another jar and cover with similar decoration from a private collection, which is described as 'almost unique'.

When first produced in Arita for the Western market in the 17th century, these brightly-coloured porcelain pieces caused considerable delight: after centuries of blue and white China, they offered a bright touch to the fashionably dark interiors of the time. The earliest mention of this type of jar dates from an account of a sale in Holland in 1680: The red assortment was much desired. 36 show pots for cabinets, cost price 2 florins, nine s. sold at Enkuisen for 140 florins (the 'red assortment' was the term used then for vases with polychrome decoration).

Hexagonal vases of the same distinctive form and decorated in the Kakiemon palette are known as 'Hampton Court' jars, after similar examples that survive at Hampton Court Palace, access. no. RCIN 1094.1-2, 1178.1-2, 1050.1-2, 1047.1-2, 1110.1-2. These vases were originally in the collection of Mary Stuart and William II of Orange. After marrying the Dutch Stadtholder in 1677, Mary became patroness of the Delft porcelain factories and a keen collector of ceramics. Together with Huguenot architect Daniel Marot (1661-1752), they created a new style of interior at the Palace of Het Loo in Apeldoorn, with her collection in pride of place. Paintings were hung between pilasters decked with porcelain on gilt brackets, and a pediment-shaped pyramid of ceramics took centre stage over the fireplace. The publication of Oeuvres du Sr. D Marot (c.1703 or 1712), including engravings illustrating this type of interiors, helped to popularise the William and Mary style and the fashion of collecting porcelain.

Jars from the original collection of William and Mary are still housed today in several royal palaces, including Buckingham Palace and Windsor Castle. Some of the pieces were also dispersed, since after Mary's death a proportion was left to Arnold Joost van Keppel, 1st Earl of Albermarle; others are said to have descended from William IV to his illegitimate daughter Lady Augusta Fitzclarence (1803-65).

Colourful Japanese porcelain made its way into other European courts, including the collection of Augustus the Strong, King of Poland and Elector of Saxony, in Dresden. Fashionable ladies trying to emulate the royal taste would also spend huge amounts of money on porcelain collecting, so much so that some were said to have ruined their families and estates. Colourful 17th century Japanese porcelain can still be seen today at Burghley House, Woburn Abbey and other grand houses around Europe.

The 'Hampton Court' jars feature a variety of patterns. However, this style of decoration is particularly rare as it seems to be known on only two pieces: the other jar is illustrated in J Ayers, et. al., 'Porcelain for Palaces, The Fashion for Japan in Europe 1650-1750', p.173, no.153. The use of blue enamels for the scrolls around the shoulder is also less common than most other examples which tend to feature iron-red and green. Due to their popularity, pieces decorated in the Kakiemon palette became extensively copied, first at Meissen in Germany, and then at many other early porcelain factories across Europe.