QIANLONG INCISED FOUR-CHARACTER MARK WITHIN DOUBLE-SQUARES AND OF THE PERIOD (1736-1795)

Two related Qianlong-marked turquoise vases of this form, without the slightly flared mouth, are published. The first is illustrated in Elegance and Radiance, Grandeur in Qing Glass: The Andrew K. F. Lee Collection, The Art Museum, The Chinese University of Hong Kong, 2000, pp. 170-1, no. 48; and the other is in the Palace Museum Collection, Beijing, illustrated by Zhang Rong, Lustre of Autumn Water, Glass of the Qing Imperial Workshop, Forbidden City Publishing House, 2005, p. 155, no. 24, it is noted that the shape resembles that of a weaving spindle. This elegant form was inspired by ceramics of the earlier Yongzheng period.