JIAJING

Details

A large pair of cloisonne enamel 'hundred deer' vases
Jiajing
Enamelled around the bulbous body with deer amidst a continuous landscape of rocks, grasses and various trees, the cylindrical neck with cranes in flight among clouds, below a ruyi-pattern border at the rim, further deer and cranes around the slightly splayed foot, all reserved on a turquoise ground
74 cm. high (2)

Special notice

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Lot Essay

The 'hundred deer' motif is purely Chinese and is a reference to the rebus where 'deer' in Chinese is a homophone for emolument or civil service salary; the 'hundred deer' therefore represent the ultimate succes, a career in government service in imperial China. This design was also very popular on enamelled porcelain from the middle Ming period. It was very much favoured by the Emperor Qianlong as can be deduced from a poem by him on the back of a cloisonne plaque with the 'hundred deer'. See H. Garner, Chinese and Japanese Cloisonné Enamels, London, 1962, p. 93, pl. 77. In this poem he compares the deer and their young to those in the royal park, and points out that they enjoy freedom under the protection by imperial decree from the attack of archers.
A similarly shaped pair of large cloisonné vases but with a different 'hundred deer' motif and Qianlong mark, was sold in our Hong Kong Rooms, 30 April 2001, lot 779.

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