A blue and white jardinière, 18th-19th century. Estimate $5,000 – $7,000. Photo Christie's Image Ltd 2015

The heavily potted jardinière is decorated with a scene of five horses frolicking beneath willow trees. The base is unglazed. 9 ½ in. (24.1 cm.) diam. Lot 3594

Provenance: Heirloom & Howard, Ltd., London, 1982.
Collection of Julia and John Curtis.

Notes: The scene on this jardinière may have been inspired by Giuseppe Castiglione’s handscroll painting Picture of Eight Fine Steeds (Ba jun tu) in the Palace Museum Beijing, illustrated in Paintings by Court Artists of the Qing Court, The Complete Collection of Treasures of the Palace Museum, vol.14, Hong Kong, 1996, pp. 142-3, no. 23, although the scene on the jardinière only includes five horses, painted in an unusually animated fashion. Castiglione’s paintings of horses were copied by many artists in the 18th century, and it is equally possible that one of the later versions served as the source for the decoration on this jardinière. An 18th-century hanging scroll by Wang Youxue was sold by Christie’s Hong Kong, 28 May 2007 and depicts two of the horses in Castiglione’s handscroll. (fig. 1) Two horses in a related pose, depicted with a slightly different use of perspective, can be found on the present jardinière.

Fig. 1: Wang Youxue (18th Century), Two Horses in the Style of Giuseppe Castiglione. Hanging scroll, ink and color on silk, 21 ¬ x 24 in. (55 x 61 cm.). Sold, Christie’s Hong Kong, 28 May 2007, lot 878.

Christie's. AN ERA OF INSPIRATION: 17TH-CENTURY CHINESE PORCELAINS FROM THE COLLECTION OF JULIA AND JOHN CURTIS, 16 March 2015, New York, Rockefeller Plaza.