Master Art

Kangxi period
Dutch Market
A fine garniture consisting of three ovoid vases with domed covers and two beakers with knopped covers, each painted to the shoulder and foot with washed-blue lappets reserved in white, the covers with matching decoration. Such five pieces sets, known as De Kastels by the Dutch, were a European invention and fashionable in Holland and the rest of Europe. Late in the seventeenth century the interior designs of Daniel Marot inspired the display of such sets in blue and white porcelain and fireplaces, door pediments and furniture were constructed with integral brackets and shelves to incorporate such porcelain, which was all the rage in big houses. This garniture is unusual in having covers also to the beaker vases, which in many such sets are not present, and all the pieces in such good condition.