Antique, large, fine, fabulous and unique Famille Noire vase with body of square tapering form with “trumpet” shaped rim. The panels are finely and marvellously decorated overall with various scenes with pavilions, rockwork, foliage, trees, mounted figures on horseback and elegante courtly male and female figures. The characters on buffaloes are highly unusual. Richly coloured enamels against a black ground. Marked to the underside with six-character Kangxi mark. Dating, from 1st quarter of 18th century. In terms of the condition, the neck is damage, but the vase features no other damage, being entirely worth of restoration. Famille Noire porcelain is known as the “Milionaire’s porcelain” and was highly sought after in late 19th century. As a reference, a Famille Noire vase similar to this one was sold to John D. Rockefeller in 1919 for the grandious price of £12,000. Literature: Impey Oliver, “Lever as a collector of Chinese Porcelain”, in Morris, Edward, “Art and Business in Edwardian England: The Making of The Lady Lever Art Gallery”, Journal of the History of Collections, Vol. 4, Nr.2, 1992, pages 235-236, in particular for a discussion on Famille Noire porcelain. It has a pink as well as a black colour scheme. This marks a transition period in the porcelain production at the end of the Kangxi’s reign (1661-1722) and the beginning of the Yongzheng reign (1678-1735), when the Chinese succeeded in making pink enamels. As a general rule, genuine Famille Noire pieces felt to have been made in the Kangxi reign have the black colour achieved by applying a copper-green lead based enamel over an unfired coating of the dry black cobalt which are also used for black outlines. During the firing the two enamels fused resulting in a deep black effect with a hint of green especially visibly where the two layers doesn’t fully cover each other. The general view is also that all pieces where the black is not made up by two layers like this are later. See photos carefully as they are part of the description. VPC189 Dimensions: Height: 44cm / “Diam.”: 14,5cm x 14,5cm / Weight: 4,6Kg #parisapartment