Lot 852. Two blue and white vases, Kangxi period (1662-1722). Estimate USD 3,000 - USD 5,000. Photo Christie's Image Ltd 2016.

The first is a blue and white pear-shaped bottle-vase, painted with alternating vertical panels of a lady holding a fan in a garden and an arrangement of antiques below elaborate lappet borders on the neck. The second is a cylindrical vase decorated with two registers of panels enclosing baskets of flowers and antiques. Pear-shaped vase 10 1/8 in. (25.7 cm.) high, cylindrical vase 6 1/8 in. (15.5 cm.) high

Provenance: William Rhinelander Stewart (1852-1929) Collection.
The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, accessioned in 1929.

William Rhinelander Stewart (1852-1929), was a philanthropist and financier, who dedicated his life to the betterment of New York. Stewart was the New York State Commissioner for the World’s Fair when it was held in New York City in 1883, and was a trustee of several banks and real estate companies including the Greenwich Savings Bank, and a member of many prestigious social clubs. He is best known for conceiving the famous arch in Washington Square Park in 1889, which was first built to celebrate the centennial of George Washington’s inauguration and is now a well-known landmark of New York City.

Christie's. Collected in America: Chinese Ceramics from the Metropolitan Museum of Art, 15 September 2016, New York, Rockefeller Plaza