Chinese export tea canister c1720-35

Code: 220706

An attractive small Chinese export tea canister of rectangular form with canted corners, decorated in underglaze blue and with a band of gilt decoration around the top, dating from the late Kangxi or Yongzheng period.  The sides of the canister are each decorated with underglaze blue flowers and foliage, and there are two further flower sprays to the top of the canister.  Height 10cm (4").

This small canister was designed to hold the precious commodity of tea in the early Eighteenth Century.

Provenance: by repute, from the Geoffrey Godden reference collection.

Date: late Kangxi or Yongzheng c 1720-35

Condtion: this canister is in very good condition, with just glaze fritting and one small chip around the top rim, and very minor glaze frtting to the base rim.  The gilding whihc was once applied to the body of the canister is almost entirely worn away.  The canister would originally have had a ceramic lid, now lost (as is so often the case).