Rare 19th Century Chinese Porcelain Vase. Green Family. Exceptional Piece

Very important Chinese porcelain antique piece dating from the 19th century, probably older. It is a beautiful and extremely rare vase made in the shape of a Buddhist lion, which belongs to the so-called Famille Verte (Green Family). The decorations of this kind of pieces are predominantly painted in green enamel, combined with red, yellow, black, pink and even gold. This type of porcelain was produced during the reign of Emperor Kangxi (16621722) and became very popular. It was produced for both Chinese and European market. This vase is undoubtedly a very rare piece because of its ancient age and its looks, and is also in wonderful condition. The stamped typewritten label attached to the pieces base gives us more information about this vases relevance. It says that this is a Famille Vert vase made during Quing Dinasty (17th-19th centuries), being also a very important piece belonging to Bekvor Collection. The blue stamp bears an inscription: John Brandon Collection Glasgow, while the red one with the Chinese ideograms indicates that the vase belonged to the Increasing Beauty Saloon (the word Increasing is not completely clear). This is a zoomorphic porcelain piece: a vase in the shape of the typical traditional Chinese Buddhist lion, accompanied by two kids who are playing with it. It a charming scene full of spontaneity and color, very decorative and original. The vase is decorated by hand and the background is yellow, combined with a lot of green and touches of blue, red, pink and black. The animals body is yellow while the hair and tail are green. The kids are dressed in colorful traditional clothes. The lion is holding on its back a decorated urn that is actually the vases mouth. On the saddle there is a delicate and tiny drawing of a stork flying among red clouds. This rare and valuable Chinese porcelain vase is fit to become part of the most prestigious collection of Oriental antiques, and it is surely a real museum piece. Measurements: 240 mm width x 340 mm height.