A CHINESE BLUE AND WHITE 'DEER AND CRANES' PHOENIX-TAIL VASE
清康熙 青花鹿鶴同春大鳳尾尊

A CHINESE BLUE AND WHITE 'DEER AND CRANES' PHOENIX-TAIL VASE

Qing Dynasty, Kangxi Period

清康熙 青花鹿鶴同春大鳳尾尊

Painted around the baluster-form body with a pair of cranes, one perched amongst sprays of pine gazing up at its companion as it takes to the sky, below them a pair of deer prance across a grassy river bank dotted with clusters of rocks and foliage, the sun setting behind swirling clouds, the flared neck similarly decorated

44.2cm high

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NOTE:

See a comparable 'cranes and deer' vase sold at Christie's Hong Kong, 12 Dec 2024, lot 1646, previously sold at Christie’s New York, 26 March 2010, lot 1362. Similar examples have also been sold by Bonhams, see New Bond Street, 8 November 2012, lot 44; 3 November 2022, lot 152; and 6 November 2014, lot 130.

Compare another vase in the Gardiner Museum of Chinese Art, and illustrated in 'Cobalt Treasures: The Bell Collection of Chinese Blue and White Porcelain', 2003, p.62.

Pairs of cranes and deer are popular depictions on Kangxi-period porcelain objects, with many similar examples in museum collections and sold at auction. These depictions have symbolic meaning as both animals are associated with longevity, and the sprays of pine add to this auspicious meaning.