A RARE FAMILLE ROSE HEXAGONAL HU-FORM VASE
A RARE FAMILLE ROSE HEXAGONAL HU-FORM VASE
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THE PROPERTY OF A LADY
A RARE FAMILLE ROSE HEXAGONAL HU-FORM VASE

QIANLONG PERIOD (1736-1795)

Details
A RARE FAMILLE ROSE HEXAGONAL HU-FORM VASE
QIANLONG PERIOD (1736-1795)
The facetted body is painted with the branches of three blossoming peach trees growing from the near the foot ring. The tree growing white flowers has its branches extending around to the reverse where an imperial poem composed by the Qianlong Emperor is inscribed in black on the neck. It is further detailed with two swallows seated on a branch while a third descends from the shoulder. The neck of the vase is flanked by a pair of lug handles painted in iron red and gilding with a bat suspending a ribbon-tied lingzhi sprig.
17 3/4 in. (45 cm.) high, box
Provenance
Sold at Christie's New York, 16 September 2010, lot 1486

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Lot Essay

The current poem titled apricot blossom, is one of the twenty-four poems that the Qianlong Emperor composed in the first lunar month of the tenth year of his reign (1744) to accompany an album of twenty-four leaves each depicting a different flower (fig.1).

The poem may be translated as:
Flame-like are its blossoms, growing fruits aplenty;
The spring garden in the second month is riotous with clouds of red.
On a sheet of fine silk, is revealed this marvellous scene,
How in Weishan did Zhiqin enlightenment attain*?
*Zhiqin, a Tang Dynasty monk, allegedly attained enlightenment after witnessing the plum blossoms in Weishan. Here Qianlong Emperor is questioning how he could have attained enlightenment after witnessing such beauty.

A similar vase but with undecorated lug-handles, dating to the Qianlong period, is illustrated in Porcelains with Cloisonne Enamel Decoration and Famille rose Decoration, vol. 39, The Complete Treasures of the Palace Museum, Hong Kong, 1999, p. 102, no. 88 (fig.2).

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