Lot Essay
The present vase is unique in its shape and decoration, showcasing the high artistical and technical standards of pottery archived during the Qianlong period. Drawing inspiration from bronze vessels with a more compressed profile, the vase features an oval body framed by lobed bands below the tall neck and above the splayed foot. The body is adorned with elaborate lotus scrolls radiating from the endless knot suspending a chime and a tassel, repeated on all four sides. The mirrored bands above and below are decorated with overlapping lappets, scrolling flowers and rows of ruyi heads. The elegant tall neck is embellished at the top with ruyi-head and beaded chains, flanked on either side by a pair of exquisitely moulded elephant-head handles, and further decorated with a beribboned double-fish charm suspending a bat in between.
It appears that only one other visually identical vase of similar size from the Qianlong period is known, previously in a Japanese collection, and was sold at Sotheby’s Hong Kong, 8 October 2009, lot 1699.
Two related examples are in the National Palace Museum, Taipei, one is a Qianlong blue and white ‘phoenix and peacock’ vase of a different shape yet with a similar pair of elephant-head handles, collection number: guci-015886 (fig. 1); another is a Qianlong blue and white ‘lotus’ vase with dragon handles, the neck of which is decorated with a similar ‘double-fish’ charm suspending a chime, collection number: guci-009911 (fig. 2).
Compare also with a Qianlong-marked yellow-ground blue and white vase painted with comparable decorations of bajixiang amidst lotus scrolls, all between bands of ruyi head and upward lappets, with the neck flanked by a pair of pink-enamelled elephant-head handles, in the Palace Museum, Beijing, collection number: gu-00152202 (fig. 3).
It appears that only one other visually identical vase of similar size from the Qianlong period is known, previously in a Japanese collection, and was sold at Sotheby’s Hong Kong, 8 October 2009, lot 1699.
Two related examples are in the National Palace Museum, Taipei, one is a Qianlong blue and white ‘phoenix and peacock’ vase of a different shape yet with a similar pair of elephant-head handles, collection number: guci-015886 (fig. 1); another is a Qianlong blue and white ‘lotus’ vase with dragon handles, the neck of which is decorated with a similar ‘double-fish’ charm suspending a chime, collection number: guci-009911 (fig. 2).
Compare also with a Qianlong-marked yellow-ground blue and white vase painted with comparable decorations of bajixiang amidst lotus scrolls, all between bands of ruyi head and upward lappets, with the neck flanked by a pair of pink-enamelled elephant-head handles, in the Palace Museum, Beijing, collection number: gu-00152202 (fig. 3).