A Chinese Blue and White 'Figural' Baluster Vase, Qing Dynasty, Kangxi Period

The present vase is exquisitely painted, with an incredible range of tones achieved by the single pigment of cobalt blue. The scene centers on a military official and a pleading attendant, surrounded by the official's retinue, within a large arch that not only frames the episode but also complements the rounded voluminous shoulders of the vessel.  

Compare an earlier Shunzhi period vase of very similar form but slightly squatter proportions, painted and enameled in wucai with the same scene, exhibited in Transitional Wares and Their Forerunners, Hong Kong Museum of Art, Hong Kong, 1981, cat. no. 183. Related blue and white 'figural' baluster vases with very similar decoration at the neck and treatment of space include one sold in our London rooms, July 16, 1985, lot 45, and two sold at Christie's Hong Kong, the first, September 26, 1989, lot 759, and the other March 19, 1991, lot 555.