BARREL SHAPED VASE. PORCELAIN, METAL. CHINA, 20TH CENTURY.

Oriental barrel-shaped vessel. Porcelain, metal. China, 20th century. With marks on the base (apocryphal, Xangxi). A barrel-shaped vessel with a flat lid, made of white-ground porcelain and decorated with a polychrome figurative composition based on plant motifs and scrolls on the lid, and upper-class figures set in a garden with pavilions, a large censer, a tiger and other animals, etc., on the body, on a frieze of repeated elements and under a double blue line at the top (this last detail also separates the stripes on the lid). Morphologically, it is reminiscent of the Chinese porcelain seats often used in gardens, but note that it has a lid with a metal washer and handles of the same material, elements that are not found on the known seating pieces. Next to these courtiers in the pavilion is a male figure on a water buffalo (a frequent motif in Chinese art, associated with either wise men or peasants or shepherds). The marks on the base, located within a double circular line, resemble those used on Chinese porcelain made during the Kangxi Empire (1662-1722), but are considered apocryphal.

· Size: 25x25x30 cms.