Two blue and white 'ladies' vessels, Qing dynasty, Kangxi period | 清康熙 青花仕女圖小罐及執壺

Two blue and white 'ladies' vessels
Qing dynasty, Kangxi period
清康熙 青花仕女圖小罐及執壺

the base of the jar with an Artemisia leaf in underglaze blue, both with later-added mounts (2)

Height of taller 6⅛ in., 15.5 cm

Condition Report:
The ewer with a few minute chips and glaze flakes to the spout. The handle with minute glaze flakes, possibly from the mount. The body with a Y-shaped hairline crack. The jar with two minute short hairlines to the body. Overall with minor firing imperfections.

Catalogue Note:
Born in 1901 in Kashan, Rafi Y. Mottahedeh amassed a great collection of Chinese export, which was later published by David Howard and John Ayers in China for the West: Chinese Porcelain and Other Decorative Arts for Export Illustrated from the Mottahedeh Collection, vols 1-2, London, 1987. In the book, Nelson Rockefeller, a close friend of Mottahedeh wrote a foreword, calling the collection 'utterly fabulous, an artistic and cultural treasure without comparison in its field'.

Provenance:
Mottahedeh Collection.

Sotheby's New York, 30th January 1985, lot 17.

New York Private Collection, and thence by descent.