Soft-paste porcelain from the Chantilly manufactory, tin-glazed with a floral Kakiemon-style decoration, circa 1735–1740.
H. 23.5 cm. (9 ¼ in.); W. 16.5 cm. (6 ½ in.); D. 18 cm. (7 in.).
MARKS AND INSCRIPTIONS: Hunting horn painted in iron-red on the left side of the vase’s base, the mark of the Chantilly manufactory chosen to honor the Princes of Bourbon-Condé; 2305, former inventory number painted in red iron on the reverse in relief of the figure.
PROVENANCE: Private collection, Beauvais, Oise, France.
COMPARATIVE BIBLIOGRAPHY: Geneviève Le Duc, “Chantilly, un certain regard vers l’Extrême-Orient, 1730–1750,” The French Porcelain Society, 1993, pp. 1–40; Mathieu Deldicque, La fabrique de l’extravagance. Porcelaines de Meissen et de Chantilly, Chantilly, exhibition catalogue, Musée Condé, Domaine de Chantilly, 5 September 2020 – 3 January 2021, pp. 140–145, cat. nos. 44–55.
This rare soft-paste porcelain figure from the Chantilly manufactory, tin-glazed with a polychrome floral Kakiemon-style decoration, depicts a richly dressed Chinese figure seated on a cushion, holding a large baluster-shaped vase in his left hand. It is unique; no other example of this model has been recorded to date.
