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Lot Essay
Previously sold in these Rooms, 27 October 2003, lot 658
This magnificent vase is an extremely rare example of butterflies and flower sprays on a famille rose vase of this form, and is a masterpiece of design. The body is very finely potted and the colours and painting of the enamel decoration are exquisite, and the way in which the designs have been used to complement the shape of the vessel is also remarkable.
An identical vase was sold in these Rooms, Important Qing Porcelain from the Yuen Family Collection, 30 April 2000, lot 589 (fig. 1). It was also included in the Min Chiu Society Thirtieth Anniversary Exhibition, Selected Treasures of Chinese Art, 1990, illustrated in the Catalogue, no. 166, and in Sotheby's Hong Kong, Twenty Years, 1993, pl. 280 and Christie's 20 Years in Hong Kong, Chinese Ceramics and Works of Art, 2006, no. 198. Another nearly identical double-gourd vase was also sold in these Rooms, 18 March 1991, lot 607 and is now in the Meiyintang Collection, illustrated by R. Krahl, Chinese Ceramics from the Meiyintang Collection, no. 962, together with a circular box (no. 961) decorated around the base with similar lotus petals.
The overlapping lotus petals around the base are richly and formally painted, shading from soft green at the base to deep pink at the tip. They serve to emphasise the full roundness of the lower part of the vessel. The rest of the lower bulb provides a perfect canvas for the exquisite painting of the flowers and butterflies, before the artist draws the eye inwards to the waist of the vase. In this central section, the styles and colours contrast and complement. The precise, curvilinear regularity of the blue ruyi band, is off-set by the next band of multi-coloured floral scrolls that show some influence of European design. The slightly raised band joining the two halves of the vase is the only area to bear decoration in a single enamel colour. The use of brilliant iron-red on this band gives it prominence so that it appears almost like a bracelet. Above this, a deceptively simple vegetal scroll introduces the next area of butterflies, petals and flower heads, while the iron-red key-fret band at the mouth serves to emphasise the roundness of the upper bulb.
The painting of the individual elements on this vase is of the highest imperial quality, and the depiction of flowers and butterflies is superb, but one should also note the extraordinary skill of the designer of this vase, who chose the style, colours and disposition of minor bands with such care, to complement not only the main decorative elements but also the elegant shape of this vessel.
Butterflies were a favoured choice in the Chinese decorative arts, since they provide a rebus which doubles any good wish and also suggest an eightieth birthday. Their appearance on other Qianlong porcelains are incorporated into a myriad of designs such as: the hu-shaped vase from the Baur Collection, enamelled with butterflies shaded in sepia against a crimson graviata ground, illustrated by S. Jenyns, Later Chinese Porcelain, 1971, pl. CVI, fig. 2, and sold in our London Rooms, 18 October 1971, lot 65; a famille rose vase decorated with exotic butterflies and scrolling-gourds ground sold in the these Rooms, 22 March 1993, lot 757; and a large celadon-ground oviform vase with butterflies amidst gourds, sold in our London Rooms, 6 June 1988, lot 103.
The decorative style is also found on other material. Cf. a painted lacquer tray from the Yongzheng/Qianlong period with several butterflies amidst scattered blooms, illustrated in Zhongguo Meishu Quanji, vol. 8, no. 161; and a Beijing enamel baluster vase decorated with butterflies amidst composite floral-sprays in the Palace Museum, Beijing, included in the exhibition catalogue, Splendours of a Flourishing Age, Macau, 2000, fig. 73.
Compare the shape of the present lot with a blue and white Qianlong double-gourd vase of the same form but painted with lotus scrolls, included in the exhibition Ming and Ch'ing Porcelain from the T. Y. Chao Family Foundation, Hong Kong Museum of Art, 1978, and illustrated in the Catalogue, no. 88.
This magnificent vase is an extremely rare example of butterflies and flower sprays on a famille rose vase of this form, and is a masterpiece of design. The body is very finely potted and the colours and painting of the enamel decoration are exquisite, and the way in which the designs have been used to complement the shape of the vessel is also remarkable.
An identical vase was sold in these Rooms, Important Qing Porcelain from the Yuen Family Collection, 30 April 2000, lot 589 (fig. 1). It was also included in the Min Chiu Society Thirtieth Anniversary Exhibition, Selected Treasures of Chinese Art, 1990, illustrated in the Catalogue, no. 166, and in Sotheby's Hong Kong, Twenty Years, 1993, pl. 280 and Christie's 20 Years in Hong Kong, Chinese Ceramics and Works of Art, 2006, no. 198. Another nearly identical double-gourd vase was also sold in these Rooms, 18 March 1991, lot 607 and is now in the Meiyintang Collection, illustrated by R. Krahl, Chinese Ceramics from the Meiyintang Collection, no. 962, together with a circular box (no. 961) decorated around the base with similar lotus petals.
The overlapping lotus petals around the base are richly and formally painted, shading from soft green at the base to deep pink at the tip. They serve to emphasise the full roundness of the lower part of the vessel. The rest of the lower bulb provides a perfect canvas for the exquisite painting of the flowers and butterflies, before the artist draws the eye inwards to the waist of the vase. In this central section, the styles and colours contrast and complement. The precise, curvilinear regularity of the blue ruyi band, is off-set by the next band of multi-coloured floral scrolls that show some influence of European design. The slightly raised band joining the two halves of the vase is the only area to bear decoration in a single enamel colour. The use of brilliant iron-red on this band gives it prominence so that it appears almost like a bracelet. Above this, a deceptively simple vegetal scroll introduces the next area of butterflies, petals and flower heads, while the iron-red key-fret band at the mouth serves to emphasise the roundness of the upper bulb.
The painting of the individual elements on this vase is of the highest imperial quality, and the depiction of flowers and butterflies is superb, but one should also note the extraordinary skill of the designer of this vase, who chose the style, colours and disposition of minor bands with such care, to complement not only the main decorative elements but also the elegant shape of this vessel.
Butterflies were a favoured choice in the Chinese decorative arts, since they provide a rebus which doubles any good wish and also suggest an eightieth birthday. Their appearance on other Qianlong porcelains are incorporated into a myriad of designs such as: the hu-shaped vase from the Baur Collection, enamelled with butterflies shaded in sepia against a crimson graviata ground, illustrated by S. Jenyns, Later Chinese Porcelain, 1971, pl. CVI, fig. 2, and sold in our London Rooms, 18 October 1971, lot 65; a famille rose vase decorated with exotic butterflies and scrolling-gourds ground sold in the these Rooms, 22 March 1993, lot 757; and a large celadon-ground oviform vase with butterflies amidst gourds, sold in our London Rooms, 6 June 1988, lot 103.
The decorative style is also found on other material. Cf. a painted lacquer tray from the Yongzheng/Qianlong period with several butterflies amidst scattered blooms, illustrated in Zhongguo Meishu Quanji, vol. 8, no. 161; and a Beijing enamel baluster vase decorated with butterflies amidst composite floral-sprays in the Palace Museum, Beijing, included in the exhibition catalogue, Splendours of a Flourishing Age, Macau, 2000, fig. 73.
Compare the shape of the present lot with a blue and white Qianlong double-gourd vase of the same form but painted with lotus scrolls, included in the exhibition Ming and Ch'ing Porcelain from the T. Y. Chao Family Foundation, Hong Kong Museum of Art, 1978, and illustrated in the Catalogue, no. 88.