A very rare garniture of three square section bottle vases and two stem vases with floral decoration over a lilac diaper ground, probably from a design by Cornelis Pronk.

These vases were made in the same workshop as other known ‘Pronk’ designed pieces though the design cannot be attributed directly to him; the patterns and enamels used are very distinctive. The source for these is most likely prints by Marie Sybille Merian but the precise source is not known. The design would have been a reassembling of small parts from several of her prints, most likely done by the same designer who worked in the two other known variants of this garniture, both of which contain elements of Merian prints that have been identified. This creation of new designs as a collage of other elements was something that Merian herself did but is also known in at least four other porcelain designs from this Pronk workshop.

The plant in this case looks to be the Dewberry (Rubus caesius L.) which is depicted in plate 21 of Book 3 of Merian Ericarum Ortus, but the image is not directly copied.

A few single vases of this type have appeared at auction but this is the only known complete garniture.

Sold GBP 65,000 to a private US collector