Pair of large ‘Birds’ vases, famille rose, Canton, early 20th century

Two modeled and polychrome porcelain vases. They have a circular base and a slender body with a balustraded profile, a curved belly that narrows at the shoulders, giving way to a long cylindrical neck flanked by ears in relief of mythical beasts and ending in a large flaring mouth. It is decorated with beautiful enamels in the ‘pink family’ of colours that depict circular, square and rectangular cartouches containing floral compositions, small landscapes with birds and flowers, and palace scenes, respectively. The cartouches are set against a background richly decorated with a network of dense flowering branches full of fruit, among which flutter elegant butterflies. 

Vase height: 133 cm; Mouth diameter: 45.5 cm; Total height: 160 cm