A RARE FAMILLE ROSE VASE

Details

A RARE FAMILLE ROSE VASE
QIANLONG SEAL MARK IN GILDING WITHIN A SQUARE AND OF THE PERIOD

Constructed as a pear-shaped vase supported on the shoulders of three boys kneeling on a trefoil base; the vase decorated in polychrome enamels with alternating lotus and mallow sprays reserved on a celadon ground below a ruyi collar in iron-red and bands of flower sprays and leaf tips on the neck below a domed rim painted in blue with foliate scroll on a pale blue ground, the archaistic bird handles in iron red with gilt decoration; the boys with delicately painted faces, and with their hair in double topknots, wearing gold bracelets and flower-decorated tunics over loose pants, one in a blue tunic over pink pants, one in lime-green over pale blue and the third in pink over pale turquoise; the waisted, trefoil base with shaped apron raised on three, shallow ruyi-head supports, all in iron-red with decorative borders in penciled gilding, minor restoration and some flaking of enamels--7 1/8in. (18.1cm.) high

Lot Essay

Compare a larger famille rose vase with lotus scroll design, and a Qianlong seal mark, supported by a pair of kneeling Dutchmen in tricorn hats, sold at Christie's London, July 20, 1970, lot 79 and illustrated by Anthony du Boulay, Christie's Pictorial History of Chinese Ceramics, New Jersey, 1984, p. 292, fig. 5. See, also, a plain white vase, with a Qianlong seal mark, set on a similar gilt and simulated lacquer ruyi base, flanked by two Europeans, illustrated in Chinese Ceramic Sculpture, The Chinese Porcelain Company, New York, April 25-May 19, 1990, Catalogue, no. 44

See, also, Ye Pei-Lan, Kangxi. Yongzheng. Qianlong. Qing Porcelain from the Palace Museum Collection, p. 368, no. 49 for a famille rose vase molded with three Chinese children at play, wearing similar belted tunics