A very rare celadon-ground Famille-Rose vase, Qianlong seal mark and period. Photo: Sotheby's.
the globular body surmounted by a tall waisted neck, brightly enameled with an elaborate stylized design of lotus sprays bearing multi-colored blooms linked by meandering vines, flanked by a band of lappets around the base and a border of pink and blue ruyi heads encircling the shoulders, the neck decorated on each side with a gilded musical chime suspended from an iron-red bat flanked by a pair of blue chilong among further foliage encircling the two animal's head handles, the everted rim of barbed outline formed as a clothlike canopy of stiff leaves alternating with ruyi motifs to match the border around the gently splayed foot, with gilding around the rim and outline, the base of the neck and around the foot, base with seal mark in iron-red. Estimation 500,000 - 800,000 USD
Notes: This vase embodies the technical precision and innovation that is characteristic of fine Qianlong porcelain. The inclusion of animal-head handles, a canopy-like mouth and a celadon ground endow the otherwise familiar vase with a striking sculptural quality. In the hands of a lesser-skilled craftsman the outcome could have been an incoherent construction; however the expertise of the present craftsman lies in his ability to combine the various elements through a carefully composed design and placement of color to create a refined and harmonious vase. Examples of the meticulous planning involved for this piece include the sinuous lines of the scrolling fronds and archaistic dragons which echo the shape of the vase, and the use of pink enamel to draw the eye from the top and down through the neck to the central lotus and around the body. The light celadon ground flecked with gilt-painted details also adds to the sumptuousness of the piece. A closely related pair of vases, but lacking the refinement of the present piece, was sold in our London rooms, 10th July 1979, lot 182. Compare also a celadon-glaze vase of this shape and molded with a similar design sold at Christie’s New York, 24th March 2004, lot 238; and a blue and white example with ringed handles published in The Mountain Resort Treasures, Beijing, 1997, pl. 23.
Only a small number of porcelain vases potted with this down-turned mouth are known, probably due to the technical difficulty involved in creating such a piece successfully. It is particularly effective on the present vase which is reminiscent of canopies used to shade the royal family, capturing a sense of movement through its slightly tapering form and the pink enamel which pools gently on the points between the ruyi heads. Further famille-rose decorated examples of Qianlong vases with pendent ruyi-shaped mouths include one decorated with a band of figures between floral scrolls on a turquoise ground, from the Qing Court collection and still in Beijing, published in The Complete Collection of Treasures of the Palace Museum. Porcelain with Cloisonné Enamel Decoration and Famille Rose Decoration, Hong Kong, 1999, pl. 120; and a ruby-ground vase painted with lotus scrolls, from the Baur collection, illustrated in John Ayers, Chinese Ceramics in the Baur Collection, vol. 2, Geneva, 1999, pl. 240. See also a Jiaqing example, elaborately decorated with lotus scrolls on a yellow ground, from the Alfred Morrison collection and Fonthill Heirlooms, sold at Christie’s Hong Kong, 1st December 2010, lot 2981.
Compare also blue and white decorated Qianlong vases with this distinctive mouth, such as one in the National Palace Museum, Taipei, illustrated in Porcelain of the National Palace Museum. Blue and White Ware of the Ch’ing Dynasty II, Hong Kong, 1968, pl. 10; another sold at Christie’s London, 11th July 2006, lot 142; and a pair of vases sold at Christie’s London, 11th May 2010, lot 217.
The inspiration for down-turned mouths of this type may originate from the Song dynasty. Vases produced at the Jun and Cizhou kilns are known with shaped, similarly everted rims; see a Jun vase with a foliate mouth, from the Eumorfopoulos collection and now in the Victoria and Albert Museum, illustrated in Rose Kerr, Song Dynasty Ceramics, London, 2004, pl. 22; and one of several Cizhou examples included in the exhibition Charm of Black and White Ware: Transition of Cizhou Type Wares, Osaka Municipal Museum of Art, Osaka, 2002, cat. no. 3. This form was embraced during the early Ming dynasty under the Xuande emperor on blue and white vases, such as one included in the Special Exhibition of Hsuan-te Imperial Porcelains of the Ming Dynasty, National Palace Museum, Taipei, 1998, cat. no. 13, before its re-emergence during the Qianlong period.
Sotheby's. Fine Chinese Ceramics & Works of Art. New York | 17 sept. 2013 - http://www.sothebys.com