Accompanied by a wood display stand

24" x 17" inches, overall with base
10.5" diameter base x 14 3/4" height x 15 7/8" diameter top rim, cachepot
12 3/4" x 17" diameter, wood stand

Overall good condition; no chips; small x-shaped crack on interior, does not travel through to exterior; scattered accretions.

This large early 20th-century cachepot is a feast for the eyes and mind. It is decorated on the exterior with bursting flora and fauna in famille noire enamels: cherry trees wrap around the vessel, donning their springtime blooms as birds sing and dance. As one looks inside, one discovers graceful goldfish floating against the white glaze, reflecting the use of a cachepot like this as a fishbowl. The cachepot is marked on the base with a Kangxi period mark. Though famille noire vessels like this were a product of this period, this example is likely from later and made for the 20th-century export market. This stamp is made as an "apocryphal" or "honorific" mark. It is part of the Famille Noire Kangxi Revival, meant to pay tribute and mark respect to bygone emperors and to periods of high-quality craftsmanship.

Porcelain decorated with famille noire enamels
Kangxi blue-enamelled four-character mark (康熙御製) within a double square on base
Kangxi Revival period mark (1900-1911), 20th century