A rare and large doucai jardinière, Seal mark and period of Qianlong

Collection of Sir Francis Cook, 1st Baronet, 1st Viscount Monserrate (1817-1901).

Collection of Sir Frederick Cook, 2nd Baronet (1844-1920). 

Collection of Sir Herbert Frederick Cook, 3rd Baronet (1868-1939).

Collection of Sir Francis Ferdinand Maurice Cook, 4th Baronet (1907-1978), until 1946.

Leiria & Nascimento, Casa Liquidadora, 'Auction of the Contents of the Monserrate Palace', 9th November 1946.

Portuguese Private Collection.

Cabral Moncada Leilões, Lisbon, 27th September 2016, lot 425.

The present jardinière belongs to a small group of vessels that successfully incorporate two decorative styles – the doucai palette invented in the Ming dynasty, and famille-rose enamels developed in the Yongzheng period. The sturdily potted vessel, densely painted with Rococo-inspired composite floral scrolls outlined in cobalt blue and enhanced by bright, opaque enamels, represents the Qianlong Emperor's eclectic taste that shaped the development of ceramic arts during his reign.

A few similar jardinières are preserved in major museums, including one from the J.M. Hu Collection in the Shanghai Museum, published in Selected Ceramics from the Collection of Mr. and Mrs. J.M. Hu, Shanghai, 1989, cat. no. 68; another in the Idemitsu Museum, Tokyo, illustrated in Chinese Ceramics in the Idemitsu Collection, Tokyo, 1987, pl. 947; and a further example in Sekai tōji zenshū / Ceramic Art of the World, vol. 15, Tokyo, 1983, pls 94 and 95. Compare also two examples sold in these rooms, 2nd May 2000, lot 675; and another 12th October 2021, lot 17.

The present jardinière was formerly housed in The Monserrate Palace (Palácio de Monserrate) (Fig. 1), a palatial villa located near Sintra, the traditional summer resort of the Portguese court. Displaying an eclectic combination of Romanticism, Mudéjar Moorish Revival architecture and neo-Gothic elements, the property became the romantic haunt of a succession of Englishmen from the 18th to 20th centuries. In 1793/94, the estate was to leased to William Thomas Beckford (1760-1844), the English novelist and heir to a great fortune who oversaw the construction of Fonthill Abbey in Wiltshire to house his extensive art collection. Lord Byron (1788-1824), the English poet and peer, visited in 1809 on his European tour, and describes the beauty of Sintra and the Monserrate estate in his 1812-18 poem Childe Harold's Pilgrimage. In 1855, Sir Francis Cook (Fig. 2), the British textile merchant and art collector, subleased the estate and embarked on an extensive restoration project of the house and grounds, for which he was subsequently graced with the title of Viscount of Monserrate by King Luís I in 1870. Cook was a notable art collector, and under the guidance of the former Victoria and Albert Museum curator, Sir John Charles Robinson (1824-1913), built an extensive collection of classical European sculpture, Chinese porcelain and Old Master paintings – including, most notably, Leonardo da Vinci's Salvator Mundi, which he acquired in 1900 and which most recently sold at Christie's New York, 15th November 2017, lot 9B. His collection was left, in trust, to his eldest son and heirs; however, in light of the declining family fortune as a consequence, in part, of World War I, by 1928, his great-grandson, Francis Ferdinand Cook had been attempting to sell the property and its contents. In 1946, it was announced that the contents of the Monserrate Palace were to be sold at public auction (Fig. 3). The auction included the sale of a number of exceptional Chinese porcelains, including a pair of doucai fish bowls, which had adorned the dining room at the Monserrate Palace (Fig. 4).