A rare and large underglaze blue and famille-verte baluster vase, Qing dynasty, Kangxi period. Photo Sotheby's

of tall baluster form terminating in a wide trumpet form mouth, vividly painted in underglaze blue and overglazefamille-verte with four rectangular reserves of flowers, lotus, chrysanthemum and peony and with further scattered flowering boughs and colorful butterflies against a blue leiwen ground, the neck similarly decorated, all between narrow bands of floral reserves on a stippled ground at the foot, neck and rim, the interior and base glazed white. Height:  29 1/2  in., 75 cm. Estimation 50,000 — 70,000 USD 

PROVENANCE: J.P. Morgan Collection, New York.
Chinese Porcelain Company, New York, 5th December 1989.

LITTERATURE: Catalogue of The Morgan Collection of Chinese Porcelains, Vol. I, New York, 1904 and 1911, Case S, no 1203.

NOTE: Although J. Pierpont Morgan (1837-1913) was a renowned and voracious art collector, particularly from the 1890s, Chinese art was not his primary focus. Most of the Morgan Chinese porcelain was previously in the James A. Garland collection, which consisted of over a thousand Kangxi (1662-1722) period blue and white and enameled porcelains.
The collection was on loan to the Metropolitan Museum until Garland’s death in 1902, when it was sold to Henry Duveen for $500,000. Morgan negotiated with Duveen to repurchase the collection for $600,000 and commissioned him to fill any gaps so as to make it even more complete. Morgan's confidence in his ability to discern quality is captured in a charming anecdote; on a particular visit to his Madison Avenue mansion, Duveen presented him with five Kangxi vases declaring that two of them were fakes. Without hesitation Morgan raised is cane and smashed two of the vase, fortunately he made the right choice and retained the authentic examples.

Morgan self-published the first catalogue of his collection and circulated it privately. The second edition of the  Catalogue, published by the Metropolitan Museum, was produced as a single volume, edited by William Laffan, with Stephen Bushell revising the catalogue entries and contributing a Historical introduction. After Morgan’s death in 1913, his son, J.P. Morgan Jr. (Jack), sold the collection to Henry Duveen in 1915 for $3 million, in part to meet his
father’s cash bequests and New York state inheritance tax. Henry Duveen sold most of the collection to J.D. Rockefeller, Henry Clay Frick and P.A.B. Widener in 1916 for $3,350,000.

Sotheby's. Fine Chinese Ceramics & Works of Art. New York | 17 sept. 2013 - http://www.sothebys.com/