A rare pair of powder-blue and mirror-black, iron-red and gilt-decorated triple-gourd vases, Qing dynasty, Kangxi period

Former collection Léon Lévy.

Sotheby's Paris, 2nd October 2008, lot 2 (186,750 €).

This impressive pair of monumental triple-gourd vases is distinguished by the richness and technical sophistication of its decoration. Each vase is arranged in three sections: the upper register decorated with gilt phoenixes on a powder-blue background; the central register with Buddhist lions painted in iron-red and gilt on a white ground; and the lower register with gilt cartouches enclosing scholar’s objects on a mirror-black ground, all three framed by two thin pale-green enamel bands with iron-red flower-heads. The imposing scale and sophisticated combination of powder-blue, iron-red, gilding and mirror-black enamels reflect the extraordinary technical capabilities of the potters of the Kangxi period and their endless pursuit of creativity.  

Triple-gourd vases of this form, size and decorative complexity are exceptionally rare. Compare an almost identical example, smaller in size, from the Mary Clark Thompson Collection, preserved in The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York (acc. no.  24.80.163) and attributed to the late 17th or early 18th century; as well as a related pair and a single vase of larger size, in the collection of the Charlottenburg Palace, Berlin, illustrated in Ausstellung Chinesischer Kunst, Berlin, 1929, cat. nos 865 and 866. 

Another almost identical vase to the present lot, formerly in the Morgan, van Beuren and Perkins Collections, was sold at Christie’s New York, 2nd June 1989, lot 34. See also a related but differently decorated pair of triple-gourd vases, with a central famille-verte register enclosed by two gilt-decorated mirror-black grounds, from the Getty Collection, sold at Christie’s New York, 23rd October 2022, lot 573.