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Lot Essay
This sensuous shape with the foot section beneath the body much wider in comparison to the neck and flaring mouth rim is quite unusual of Qing porcelain. The present vase's retention of its elongated shape is worthy of note. This particular form is well enhanced by the elaborately executed spreading peach tree which provides a pictorial balance that further accentuates its visual elegance.
The subject matter of the combined peaches, bats and lingzhi forms the auspicious birthday wish for longevity and happiness. It has been suggested that vases painted with this combination were made for the birthday celebrations of the Yongzheng emperor, cf. Q. Z. Wang (ed.), Underglaze Blue and Red, p. 124, where a similar vase from the Shanghai Museum is illustrated, ibid, fig. 121. The motifs of the five bats symbolise the 'Five Blessings': longevity, wealth, health, virtue and to finish the alloted life span.
Compare also two other very similar examples of this shape and motif, one in the Palace Museum, Beijing, illustrated in Kangxi, Yongzheng, Qianlong, p. 188, no. 17; and another illustrated in Qingdai Taoci Daquan, A Compendium of Qing Dynasty ceramics, Taibei, 1989, p. 169. All three published examples are based on the same theme but they are not identical in that the placement of the bats in flight is slightly varied.
It is interesting to compare the exquisitely executed pattern in underglaze cobalt-blue to similar examples enamelled over the glaze found on bowls, dishes and vases of the same period. For an example of a Yongzheng-marked large 'peach' dish in the famille rose palette in the Percival David Foundation, see R. Scott, Imperial Taste, no. 52. Undoubtedly, without the benefit of colour, the painter of the present vase had a greater challenge to hand. The expertise in which the shading and 'heaping and piling' of the cobalt was applied, and the confident execution of the brushwork indicate the work of a master craftsman. Perhaps the painting style was not so much in imitation of the famille rose examples but a composition to create an imagery of ink on paper painting.
The subject matter of the combined peaches, bats and lingzhi forms the auspicious birthday wish for longevity and happiness. It has been suggested that vases painted with this combination were made for the birthday celebrations of the Yongzheng emperor, cf. Q. Z. Wang (ed.), Underglaze Blue and Red, p. 124, where a similar vase from the Shanghai Museum is illustrated, ibid, fig. 121. The motifs of the five bats symbolise the 'Five Blessings': longevity, wealth, health, virtue and to finish the alloted life span.
Compare also two other very similar examples of this shape and motif, one in the Palace Museum, Beijing, illustrated in Kangxi, Yongzheng, Qianlong, p. 188, no. 17; and another illustrated in Qingdai Taoci Daquan, A Compendium of Qing Dynasty ceramics, Taibei, 1989, p. 169. All three published examples are based on the same theme but they are not identical in that the placement of the bats in flight is slightly varied.
It is interesting to compare the exquisitely executed pattern in underglaze cobalt-blue to similar examples enamelled over the glaze found on bowls, dishes and vases of the same period. For an example of a Yongzheng-marked large 'peach' dish in the famille rose palette in the Percival David Foundation, see R. Scott, Imperial Taste, no. 52. Undoubtedly, without the benefit of colour, the painter of the present vase had a greater challenge to hand. The expertise in which the shading and 'heaping and piling' of the cobalt was applied, and the confident execution of the brushwork indicate the work of a master craftsman. Perhaps the painting style was not so much in imitation of the famille rose examples but a composition to create an imagery of ink on paper painting.