Blue and White Kangxi Period 1662-1722 - Vases - Page 1

Object 2010984

A miniature "doll's house" vase

China

1700-1720

Height 45 mm (1.77 inch), diameter 28 mm (0.87 inch), diameter of mouthrim 15 mm (0.59 inch), diameter of footring 12 mm (0.47 inch), weight 16 grams (0.56 ounce (oz.))

Miniature "doll's house" vase on a footring. Decorated in underglaze blue with flowering plants and insects in flight.

It was a popular pastime for the ladies of the Dutch patrician society to furnish doll's houses, whose various rooms reflected those of their own town palaces. Apart from the usual furniture, miniature versions of exotic luxury goods such as porcelain, fabrics, carpets and lacquer were obligatory. The doll's house of Petronella Oortman, now in the Rijksmuseum Amsterdam, and that of Lita de Ranitz in the Historical Museum of the Hague are considered to be the most prominent examples. The Chinese had produced miniature ceramics for almost one thousand years for the decoration of birdcages, therefore it was no problem for them to supply the Dutch with doll's house porcelain. Miniature pieces were also displayed in ordinary porcelain rooms in cupboards and on brackets along the wall. (Suebsman 2019, p.76)

Condition: Some very tiny popped blubbles of glaze, caused by the firing process, to the rim.

Reference:

Suebsman 2019, p.76

Price: € 199 Currency Converter