Royal Chinese Vases Swapped for 600 Cavalrymen

Tuesday, 20 June 2006 17:22

London - Six Hundred Cavalrymen Swapped For Chinese Vases In Deal Between Royal Houses of Poland and Prussia.  Two of the giant vases that the King of Poland bought from the King of Prussia - paying for them with 600 cavalrymen - are being sold at Bonhams sale of Fine Asian Art on July 10. 

Bonhams next sale of Fine Asian art includes two monumental blue and white vases, estimated to sell for a record price of £100,000 to £150,000 for the pair.  They were part of an extraordinary deal done by the porcelain-mad Augustus the Strong, Elector of Saxony and King of Poland (1670-1733), who exchanged 600 of his own cavalrymen with his neighbour the 'soldier King' Frederick William 1, King of Prussia, in settlement for these and other similar massive imported Chinese pots sold from the Prussian Royal collections. 

Lot 107 is a magnificent pair of blue and white baluster vases (103cm (40.5inches tall) and covers, dating from the Kangxi period (1662-1722) of Imperial China.  These stunning blue and white pots once formed part of the greatest collection of porcelain in 18th Century Europe, 24,000 pieces in all, bought by Augustus the Strong.  Augustus acquired these vases as part of a larger consignment of 151 in total from the King of Prussia.

Colin Sheaf, Head of Asian Art at Bonhams comments: "There's nothing more exciting for an auctioneer than handling and researching Chinese porcelain which we know has entranced Westerners for three centuries.

These great jars are a window on a vanished world of 18th century collecting, when Europe's leading taste makers and connoisseurs jostled to acquire for their princely collections the most splendid, most impressive imports from Imperial China.  No-one upstaged or outbid Augustus the Strong when he wanted something, and his fascination with porcelain is part of the European cultural legend."