A Large and Rare Pair of Chinese Export Famille-Rose 'Phoenix and Flowers' 'Soldier' Vases and Covers, Qing Dynasty, Qianlong Period | 清乾隆 粉彩鳳凰花卉庭院圖大蓋瓶一對

Christie's New York, 21 January 1999, lot 134

These present pair of monumental vases, lavishly decorated with vibrant fencai enamels, represent the extraordinary achievements of Chinese painters and potters during the Qianlong Emperor’s reign. Vases of this type came to be known as ‘soldier’ or ‘dragoon’ vases after an event in 1717, when Augustus the Strong (1670-1733), Elector of Saxony, King of Poland and perhaps the most important porcelain collector in Europe at the time, traded a regiment of 600 soldiers for 151 pieces of Chinese porcelain, formerly in the collection of Friedrich Wilhelm I of Prussia. A number of these porcelains were massive blue and white baluster vases, of similar form to the present vases.

The technical virtuosity demonstrated by the Qing potters is unrivaled. A pair of earlier examples painted in the Chinese Imari palette, is illustrated in Ronald W. Fuchs II, Made in China: Export Porcelain from the Leo and Doris Hodroff Collection at Winterthur, cat. no. 107, pp. 168-169, where the author notes a contemporary account of vases of this type by French Jesuit missionary Père d'Entrecolles (1664-1741):

“...Designs executed which were said to be impracticable; these were Urns above three Foot high without the Lid, which rose like a Pyramid a Foot high… I was told at the same time that out of twenty-four eight only succeeded…”

The above passage demonstrates the quality of these soldier vases as early as they were created, which unsurprisingly, became symbols of luxury and power when they arrived in the West. While ‘soldier’ vases were produced throughout the 18th century, the quality of painting and enameling reached new heights during the Qianlong period following the invention of the opaque, pink enamels known as fencai after 1720. Early examples of blue and white ‘soldier’ vases, and possibly some of the original examples Augustus the Strong acquired, are illustrated in Eva Ströber, La maladie de porcelaine, Leipzig, 2001, p. 10, and in the collection at the Zwinger.

A closely related example, formerly in the collection of the Hon. Mrs. Ronald Greville, is illustrated in George C. Williamson, The Book of Famille Rose, Vermont and Tokyo, 1970, pl. LVIII, p. 191. Another pair first sold at Christie's New York, April 6, 1998, lot 161, and sold again at Christie's New York, January 23, 2020, lot 95.

Other examples of ‘soldier vases’ include a pair decorated with pheasants in a fenced garden, formerly in the collection of Alfred Morrison (1821-1897) at Fonthill House, Tisbury, Wiltshire, and later acquired by Gerson and Judith Lieber, sold in these rooms, March 20, 2018, lot 417; a rare set of four, decorated with a continuous scene of flowering plants, sold in these rooms, March 29, 2011, lot 59; and another pair, formerly in the collection of Flora Whitney Miller (1897-1986), sold in these rooms, April 11, 1987, lot 200, and again in these rooms, October 17, 2022, lot 89.