A PAIR OF IMPRESSIVE JAPANESE IMARI BALUSTER VASES

EDO PERIOD, 18TH CENTURY

Both decorated in underglaze blue, gilt, red, green and pink enamels with fan-shaped panels enclosing ho-ho birds perched on branches of paulownia, on a deep navy-blue ground with flowering chrysanthemum amongst scrolling tendrils in gilt, with shaped lappets above the foot and smaller panels around the neck enclosing further birds and stylised lotus flowers, the shoulders with a band of leaping dragons on a red ground, both raised on elegant European ormolu mounts, probably 19th century, both 71cm. (2)

Provenance: Lionel de Rothschild (1882-1942), Edmund de Rothschild (1916-2009), the Trustees of Exbury House.

Cf. J Ayers, Chinese and Japanese Works of Art in the Collection of Her Majesty The Queen, vol.II, pp.677-8 for two pairs of Japanese Imari vases with comparable decoration. Lionel de Rothschild, OBE (1882-1942) was the eldest son of Leopold de Rothschild and part of the prominent Rothschild banking family of England. After the death of his father in 1917, Lionel and his brother Anthony became the managing partners of N M Rothschild & Sons bank. Aside from his involvement in the family bank, Lionel was also a Conservative politician, serving as MP for the Vale of Aylesbury from 1910 to 1923. After selling Halton House which he had inherited from his uncle Alfred de Rothschild in 1918, the following year Lionel purchased the Mitford estate at Exbury in Hampshire. Lionel had been interested in horticulture from an early age and dedicated much time and money into creating an impressive garden at Exbury. He was also responsible for the building of Exbury House on the estate in the 1920s. Lionel passed away in 1942, and the estate was inherited by his son Edmund de Rothschild (1916-2009) who devoted himself not only to the family business but also to maintaining and developing Exbury Gardens which had fallen into disrepair during the Second World War. Whilst Exbury House remains private, the gardens are open to the public and are still regarded as some of the finest in the United Kingdom today. These Japanese vases (opposite) were in the collection of Lionel de Rothschild at Exbury House and subsequently passed by descent to Edmund.