A CANTON ENAMEL 'EUROPEAN FIGURES' VASE

QIANLONG PERIOD (1736-1795)

Details

A CANTON ENAMEL 'EUROPEAN FIGURES' VASE
QIANLONG PERIOD (1736-1795)
The vase is cast with an ovoid body supported on a spreading foot rising to a tall trumpet neck with a flaring mouth. The body is delicately enamelled in the famille rose palette with two cartouches each depicting a European figure fishing along the river bank in a landscape setting with European-style architecture in the far distance. Each cartouche is contoured by elaborately chased Rococo-style gilt-metal foliate scrolls on a punched gilt ground strewn with polychrome enamelled composite flowerheads, the pattern repeated on the neck between a band of lotus petals and leaves at the mouth and upright plantain leaves above the shoulder, flanked by a pair of archaistic dragon handles picked out in purple and pink enamels. The foot is encircled with further plantain leaves below a band of linked prunus flowerheads. The interior and base are covered with turquoise enamels.
7 1/8 in. (18.5 cm.) high

Brought to you by

Nick Wilson

Check the condition report or get in touch for additional information about this

chinese@christies.com Tel: +852 2760 1766

If you wish to view the condition report of this lot, please sign in to your account.

View condition report

Lot Essay

The present vase, decorated with predominantly European motifs juxtaposed with Chinese decorative elements, is characteristic of Canton enamel wares made during the 18th century, which are inspired by contemporaneous European enamels and oil paintings. Several Canton enamel wares similarly decorated with European figures or landscapes framed by Rococo-style scrolls have been published, including a Qianlong-marked quatrelobed vase with similar landscape cartouches reserved on a flowerhead-shrewn scrolling ground, in the Qing Court Collection and illustrated in Metal-bodied Enamel Ware, The Complete Collection of Treasures of the Palace Museum, Hong Kong, 2002, no. 215; a baluster vase of similar design, exhibited in Enamels of the World 1700-2000. The Khalili Collection, State Hermitage Museum, St Petersburg, 2009-2010; a pair of Qianlong-marked square vases enamelled with European figures in cartouches, and a pair of Qianlong-marked quatrelobed boxes bearing similar designs, both in the National Palace Museum, and illustrated in Radiant Luminance: The Painted Enamelware of the Qing Imperial Court, Taipei, 2012, figs. 159 and 168.

More from Imperial Sale; Important Chinese Ceramics and Works of Art

View All