KANGXI PERIOD (1662-1722)

Comprising a gentleman dressed in an aubergine jacket, the maiden in a green jacket, both overall decorated with floral scrollwork, each standing on a hexagonal base painted with peonies
11 in. (27.9 cm.) high, the gentleman

Jakob Goldschmidt, Berlin, by 1929; Christie’s, London, 29 June 1938, lot 54.
Anonymous sale; Christie’s, London, 9 May 1994, lot 5.
Acquired from above by Ann and Gordon Getty.

Please note that the present work is being offered for sale pursuant to a settlement agreement between the current owner and heirs of Jakob Goldschmidt and the proceeds of sale are being jointly donated to The Ann and Gordon Getty Foundation for the Arts. The settlement agreement resolves all issues between the parties regarding ownership and transfer of title.

Jakob Goldschmidt (1882-1955) was one of the most significant art collectors of his time in Germany. His vaunted, curated collection spanned from major French Impressionist and post-Impressionist art, through Old Master paintings, medieval and Renaissance art, decorative arts and porcelain.

A prominent leader in the banking, finance and business worlds, notably as co-founder of the Danat bank, German-Jewish Goldschmidt became an early focal hate-figure for the National Socialists during their ascendancy to power. He fled Germany in 1933, emigrating to New York in 1936. Cut off from funds in Germany, subject to the restrictive National Socialist tax regulations and enmeshed in complex financial arrangements, Goldschmidt was reliant on family and connections for support. Although able to take part of his collection including the porcelain out of Germany, much of his art was sold via auction in Germany between 1936 and 1941, including property forcibly forfeited to the Reich.

Berlin, The East Asian Art Society, The Preukischen Academy of Art, The Chinese Art Exhibition, January-April 1929, no. 938.