Lot 29. A rare pair of turquoise-glazed Jardinières, 18th century. Each 15.6cm (6 2/8in) wide. Estimate £ 25,000 - 35,000 (€ 29,000 - 41,000). Sold for £ 31,312 (€ 35,740). © Bonhams 2001-2019

Each jardiniere of quatrefoil section moulded as a begonia flower with four lobed sides raising from a short foot encircling a recessed base, the body incised with a continuous band of archaistic interlocking chilong on a leiwen ground, covered overall in an even brilliant turquoise glaze, the bases affixed with Imperial inventory labels reading, respectively, 'Place of Virtue, no.15' and 'Imperial no.1739'.

Provenance: Francis Capel Harrison (1863-1938), King's Lynn, Norfolk, acquired between 1900-1903 (label)
Bonhams London, 10 July 2006, lot 200
A distinguished English private collection.

Exhibited: Ashmolean Museum, Oxford, December 1903 (label).

Note: Francis Capel Harrison served as a long-standing civil servant in India (1884-1911). In his later years he was appointed Head Commissioner of Paper Currency, before returning to London where he became a Member of Parliament and a correspondent for the Economic Journal. Much of his collection, including the present pair of jardinières, was exhibited at the Ashmolean Museum, Oxford in and after 1903 and for about twenty years, prior to 130 pieces being sold by Bluett's in 1925. He acquired objects from Sparks as well as Bluett's. See R.David and D.Jellinek, Provenance, Oxford, 2011, p.223.

The present lot is very rare for its use of the prized turquoise glaze also known as 'peacock blue'. See a related circular jardinière covered with turquoise glaze, Yongzheng seal mark and of the period, illustrated in Catalog of the Special Exhibition of K'ang-hsi, Yung-cheng and Ch'ien-lung Porcelain ware from the Ch'ing dynasty in the National Palace Museum, Taipei, 1986, p.86, no.53.