19th Century Chinese Famille-Verte Porcelain Candle Holder

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Up for sale is an antique Chinese Famille-Verte/Wucai* glazed porcelain candlestick/candle holder decorated with floral and ancient sage motifs, after … Read more Up for sale is an antique Chinese Famille-Verte/Wucai* glazed porcelain candlestick/candle holder decorated with floral and ancient sage motifs, after Kangxi style, 19th century, late Qing dynasty, good condition with some firing imperfections mainly misapplied glaze underneath the tray and some minor glaze abrasion
Private Upper East Side Manhattan collection
5.8 in. (14.7 cm) high

*Famille Verte means "the green family". Overglaze enamel decoration on export and Imperial porcelain. Developed during the Ming dynasty from multicolored decorations with translucent enamels, applied during secondary firing/s on glazed porcelain. By the end of the 16th century formalized into Wanli Wucai - Wanli five color enamels - then further into Kangxi wucai and what now by mostly western scholars is recognized by its French name Famille Verte. The colors are usually red, green, yellow, blue and black. Which name that best describes a certain "five-color decoration" depends on the style of the decoration, where we by "Famille Verte" should assume a Kangxi style and period porcelain shapes and decoration. On earlier wares the blue is often under the glaze as it is not until later in the period that overglaze blue was successfully fired and the wucai was fully developed into the famille verte stage. See less