These handsome large jars and covers are wonderful examples of the grand Chinese porcelains made for export in the Kangxi period(1662-1722) Decorated in underglaze blue, each panel encloses finely painted plants and flowers, in a distinctive style that uses pencilled hatched lines, recalling European prints of the time. Such wares were eagerly bought, when they reached the West, and used to decorate the public rooms of palaces and the grand country houses of the aristocracy. They epitomise the Dutch taste, brought to England by King William and Queen Mary, which filled Kensington Palace and Hampton Court with blue and white porcelain. Large covered jars were often bought in pairs, to stand on the floor in a hall or long gallery, while in the summer months they might have been placed to furnish a large empty fireplace.