Chinese vase. Qing Dynasty, Kangxi period, ca. 1720.

Chinese vase. Qing Dynasty, Kangxi period, ca. 1720.
Hand painted porcelain.
Measurements: 10 x 9 x 9 cm.

Chinese vase belonging to the Kangxi period, in hand-painted porcelain with the representation of sumptuous flowers with large corollas, sinuous borders and a lion camouflaged among the plant stems.

Emperor Kangxi was one of the most important monarchs in the history of China, and in fact his reign of sixty-one years, parallel to that of Louis XIV in France, is the longest in the history of the country, and established the power of the new Qing dynasty. His was a period of cultural splendor, thanks largely to the intense work of artistic patronage developed by the emperor himself. The emperor himself practiced calligraphy and painting, the two most highly regarded arts in China, and maintained the Neo-Confucian canon of Zhu Xi as the cultural yardstick on which the imperial examinations were based. The emperor developed an important work in support of literature, and also promoted the plastic arts. In 1661 the imperial workshops were founded in Beijing, where sumptuary objects were produced for the court, from porcelain to paintings and ritual objects. Silk production workshops were also established at this time in the southern cities of Suzhou, Hangzhou and Jiangning.