Master Art

Kangxi period 
Dutch market

Price:  £13,000

An unusual Chinese export porcelain five piece garniture consisting of two gu-form beaker vases and three covered baluster vases of faceted hexagonal section, painted in underglaze blue with flowers and butterflies.

Five piece garniture sets were very popular in Europe at this date and designs for furniture, fireplaces and room panelling allowed for this with brackets and niches for the display of such sets. Many such arrays followed the designs of Daniel Marot  (1661-1752) a French Huguenot designer and engraver who moved to Holland after the Revocation of the Edict of Nantes (1685) and later to England with William and Mary, introducing the court style of Louis XIV to both countries. One of his designs for a chimney piece included spaces for 300 pieces of porcelain.