AN EXCEPTIONALLY RARE FAMILLE ROSE FLARING WINE COOLER FOR THE ITALIAN MARKET Qianlong period, circa 1740 Modeled in the shape of an Italian (Vezzi) porcelain vessel, itself copying a European rococo silver shape, the thistle-head-shaped wine cooler with compressed globular body beneath a tall wide flaring rim standing on a short spreading foot, the exterior boldly enameled overall in bright opaque pink, yellow, coral-red and subsidiary colors with elaborate baroque strapwork and arabesques, the sides set with two human-mask handles resembling earlier Italian silver casts. 8 1/2in (21cm) high Footnotes: 乾隆時期 約1740年 珍稀為意大利市場製粉彩奢口人面雙耳冰酒桶 Provenance: Leo and Doris Hodroff Collection Published: Cohen & Cohen, School's Out, Ghent, 2001, p. 15, no. 10 Cohen & Cohen, The Elephant in the Room, Antwerp, 2019, pp. 28-29, no. 11 來源： Leo 與 Doris Hodroff伉儷舊藏 出版： 倫敦Cohen & Cohen古董行，《School's Out》，根特，2001年，頁15，圖版編號10 倫敦Cohen & Cohen古董行，《The Elephant in the Room》，安特衛普，2019年，頁28-29，圖版編號11 This appears to be one of very few examples of this extraordinary form, explicitly modeled and created for the European market, recorded in Chinese export porcelain. It is particularly remarkable that the source of this splendid vessel appears to be Italian porcelain, because Italy was the only major West European nation not to have its own monopolist East India Company to trade directly with Asia. This specifically Italian design must therefore have been commissioned presumably by a senior Italian figure (possibly a director of the Vezzi factory?) through an order placed with one of the foreign East India Companies. This wine cooler belongs to a small group of comparable elaborately shaped and decorated pieces with the same mask handles, probably modeled after silver originals. The decoration was inspired by porcelain made at the Vezzi factory in Venice, Italy, active only between 1720-1727. The strapwork motif may be influenced by the designs of Jean Bérain the Younger (1678-1726). An identical example can be found in the Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York. Related examples: see for example a tureen, cover and stand in the Medeiros e Almeida Foundation, Lisbon, illustrated by Beurdeley, 1962, pl. 83; Castro, 1988, p. 87, for three related services made for the Portuguese market with the arms of the Bishop of Oporto, D. Jose Ribeiro da Fonseca Figueredo e Sousa; Le Corbeiller, 1973, where the author discusses this rare group of Export pieces; Cohen & Cohen, 2001, no. 9, p. 14, a pair of tazze with similar decoration; and Cohen & Cohen, 2019, no. 12, pp. 30-31, for an ewer and cover.