Description:
A Very Fine and Large 19th Century Chinese Export Famille Verte Porcelain and French Figural Ormolu-Mounted Chinoiserie Style Centerpiece Jardinière, in the manner of Edward Holmes Baldock (1777-1845). The circular-ovoid porcelain bowl or cachepot, maybe 18th century Jiaqing period (unverified), decorated with a blue and purple ground background with parcel gilt depicting pagodas, trees, mountains and landscape scenes, flanking scrolled handles issuing from the base and ending with a finely chased ormolu pierced acanthus rim. The two ends with a projected mask of Chinese Imperial lions or foo dogs, surmounted and raised on six finely chased ormolu masks of Bacchus satyrs flanked by seashell-like mounts. The Ormolu, circa Paris, 1880. The Porcelain circa 1800 (Maybe 18th century.)
Height: 15 3/4 inches (40 cm.)
Overall width: 21 inches (53.4 cm.)
Depth: 17 inches (43.2 cm.)
Ref.: A2546 - Lot 11350
Edward Holmes Baldock (1777-1845) was a prominent London furniture dealer to the Royal Family, father of Edward Holmes Baldock.
He was first listed in the London trade directories in 1805. That listing had him operating out of No.7 Hanway Street in London, where he was described as selling "china and glass". An updated listing in 1821 described his business as "an antique furniture and ornamental furniture dealer", and in 1826 as a buyer and seller of "china, cabinets, screens, bronzes etc".
Between 1832 and 1837 he sold earthenware and glass products to William IV, and upon the ascendancy of Queen Victoria in 1837, sold china until his death in 1845. Baldock was one of the first antique dealers and is similar to the 18th century marchands-merciers Dominique Daguerre and Simon-Philippe.
He was the father of Edward Holmes Baldock (1812-1875), a British Conservative Party politician, and of Mary Frances Baldock, wife of the philatelist W. A. S. Westoby.
Famille Verte
Famille verte (康熙五彩, Kangxi wucai, also 素三彩, Susancai), adopted in the Kangxi period around 1680, uses green in a few different shades and iron red with other overglaze colours. It developed from the wucai (五彩, "Five colours") style, which combines underglaze cobalt blue with a few overglaze colours. The famille verte enamels may be painted on the biscuit (unglazed prefired ware) with no underglaze blue, or over high-fired glaze, producing wares of different appearances. Wares with enamel painted on the biscuit usually have a solid-colour ground such as yellow, black or green, while those painted over the glaze may have a white ground. Occasionally both underglaze and overglaze blue may be seen in the same object. The firing to fuse the enamels was done at a relatively low temperature.
The colours found in famille verte are typically green, red, yellow, blue and aubergine (non-vivid purple). Black may also be used and occasionally gold. The blue colour is more violet or royal blue in tone, which is different in shade from the blue used in Ming dynasty porcelain. The ability to achieve colour gradation famille verte is limited. The coloured enamels are often painted over the pure white body of the porcelain which comes over through the glaze. The colours may also be set off on a black or yellow grounds (known as famille noire and famille jaune respectively), and more rarely aubergine and green.
Famille verte wares were popular for several decades until the 1720s after the reign of Kangxi when it became supplanted by famille rose which has a greater colour range. It continued to be made in small amounts in the subsequent periods, and its popularity revived in the West in the late 19th and early 20th century.
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