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Lot Essay
Only one other vase of this very rare type, with a porcelain body and carved red lacquer neck, appears to have been published. It is a Jiaqing mark and period vase of related shape sold in our Paris rooms, 7 December 2007, lot 175. Unlike the lotus scroll decoration of the present vase, it was painted with a pomegranate tree, but the red lacquer neck was similarly carved with lotus scroll.
Lacquered porcelain objects are quite rare as the application of the lacquer to the surface of the porcelain would have required great skill and would have added considerably to the original cost of the item. It is also rather fragile, and it is likely that of the few examples of this type made, even fewer would have survived.
Although there are some examples of lacquered ceramics or porcelain of earlier date, it wasn't until the Kangxi period that there was a renewed interest in the lacquering of porcelain, and a few of these pieces remain. One is an exceptional large porcelain beaker vase with Kangxi mark covered in layers of black and red lacquer carved in imitation of tixi lacquer, which is illustrated in The Complete Collection of Treasures of the Palace Museum - 46 - Lacquer Wares of the Qing Dynasty, Hong Kong, 2006, no. 3. Another is the mother-of-pearl-inlaid black lacquered brush pot, also of Kangxi date, sold in our London rooms, 8 June 2004, lot 465, and now in the Robert H. Blumenfield Collection, 25 March 2010, lot 953. A porcelain bottle vase covered allover with carved red lacquer, of Qianlong date, is illustrated by Edward F. Strange, Chinese Lacquer, London, 1926, pl. XXI.
Lacquered porcelain objects are quite rare as the application of the lacquer to the surface of the porcelain would have required great skill and would have added considerably to the original cost of the item. It is also rather fragile, and it is likely that of the few examples of this type made, even fewer would have survived.
Although there are some examples of lacquered ceramics or porcelain of earlier date, it wasn't until the Kangxi period that there was a renewed interest in the lacquering of porcelain, and a few of these pieces remain. One is an exceptional large porcelain beaker vase with Kangxi mark covered in layers of black and red lacquer carved in imitation of tixi lacquer, which is illustrated in The Complete Collection of Treasures of the Palace Museum - 46 - Lacquer Wares of the Qing Dynasty, Hong Kong, 2006, no. 3. Another is the mother-of-pearl-inlaid black lacquered brush pot, also of Kangxi date, sold in our London rooms, 8 June 2004, lot 465, and now in the Robert H. Blumenfield Collection, 25 March 2010, lot 953. A porcelain bottle vase covered allover with carved red lacquer, of Qianlong date, is illustrated by Edward F. Strange, Chinese Lacquer, London, 1926, pl. XXI.