Lot Essay
The decoration skilfully executed on this vase is replete with auspicious symbolism. The iconography of the bat (representing happiness), peach (representing longevity) and lotus (representing continuity) form the rebus for 'May happiness and longevity continue for years to come'.
Compare the present lot to similar lime-green ground examples from this period, including a Jiaqing-marked meiping decorated with Indian lotus amidst Shou and Fu characters from the Qing Court Collection, illustrated in Porcelains with Cloisonne Enamel Decoration and Famille Rose Decoration, The Complete Collection of Treasures of the Palace Museum, Hong Kong, 1999, p. 195, no. 172; and
a Jiaqing-marked lantern vase with exotic flowers, op. cit., pl. 173. Similar designs are also seen on earlier Qianlong period prototypes, such as a Qianlong-marked vase detailed with lotus borne on tendrils between phoenix on a lime-green ground, included in the Nanjing Museum and Chinese University of Hong Kong joint exhibition Qing imperial Porcelain, Hong Kong, 1995, Catalogue, no. 96.
Compare the present lot to similar lime-green ground examples from this period, including a Jiaqing-marked meiping decorated with Indian lotus amidst Shou and Fu characters from the Qing Court Collection, illustrated in Porcelains with Cloisonne Enamel Decoration and Famille Rose Decoration, The Complete Collection of Treasures of the Palace Museum, Hong Kong, 1999, p. 195, no. 172; and
a Jiaqing-marked lantern vase with exotic flowers, op. cit., pl. 173. Similar designs are also seen on earlier Qianlong period prototypes, such as a Qianlong-marked vase detailed with lotus borne on tendrils between phoenix on a lime-green ground, included in the Nanjing Museum and Chinese University of Hong Kong joint exhibition Qing imperial Porcelain, Hong Kong, 1995, Catalogue, no. 96.