RARE IMARI GLAZED PORCELAIN CISTERN AND COVER, CHINA, QING DYNASTY, KANGXI ERA (1665-1723) With the two original holes for hanging it and the water tap, the cistern, with a shape imitating a Western wall fountain with architectural outline, has a pagoda-roof shaped cover with a biscuit lion sitting on top of it. It is decorated with scrolls of lotus flowers, the base painted with a faux-bois apron picked out in gilt, the front adorned in the centre with a large branch of flowering peony beside various ornamental floral motifs and projecting borders, all close by a band of pendent stylized ruyi-heads below the rim, each sides embellished with a large branch of blossom peony within a pair of mythical beast-head and fixed gilt ring handles. The cistern is accompanied by a nice wood base which takes up the motif of the base of the cistern itself. In very good condition, for an object of this type, only a few hairlines at the bases: 2 cm on the right side, 8 cm on the left corner, 10 cm back left corner, 8 cm not trespassing on the backside and 8 cm not trespassing under the cover, very minor firing imperfections and minor wear on the surface. 55,5 cm high, 29,8 cm wide, 20,4 cm deep AN EXTREMELY RARE BRIGHTLY PAINTED IMARI PORCELAIN CISTERN AND COVER, CHINA, QING DYNASTY, KANGXI PERIOD (1665-1723) Provenance: from an English private collection of a sumptuous mansion in Cairo developed in the 19th century and thence by condescent