A small Chinese porcelain German-decorated beaker Kangxi 1662-1722

A small Chinese porcelain German-decorated beaker Kangxi 1662-1722, originally decorated with two bands of ruyi-heads in underglaze blue, later-enamelled in schwarzlot with a baroque panel of hounds attacking a wild boar, with hares and stags being chased by hounds amongst scrolling leaves, and a huntsman holding a spear and blowing his horn, the beaker's interior with a single ant, 6.5cm.

Provenance: the Helen Espir Collection, no. 647. Purchased from, E & H Manners, March 1998.

Hunting scenes such as this were popular at the turn of the 18th century, and the quality of the decoration on this cup implies it was decorated by a known hausmaler perhaps in Nuremburg.