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Lot Essay
The present vase, with its exquisite enamelling and elaborately cast handles is undoubtedly made for imperial use and is representative of Qing imperial cloisonné enamels of the highest quality.
The Qing Court Collection has a number of cloisonné enamel vessels set with similar gilt-bronze phoenix handles, although very few of them are executed with the same degree of meticulous attention to detail. Examples include a cloisonné enamel zun with handles of similar form but of less elongated form (fig. 1); a censer with handles in the form of phoenix with abstract scrolling bodies; and a censer flanked by a pair of abstract stylised phoenix handles, all dating to the mid-Qing period and illustrated in Compendium of Collections in the Palace Museum - Enamels (3) - Cloisonne in the Qing Dynasty (1644-1911), Beijing, 2011, nos. 77, 197, and 206 respectively.
Compare, also a massive cloisonné enamel censer with gilt-bronze phoenix handles of the Qianlong period sold at Christie’s Hong Kong, 29 November 2017, lot 2915 (fig. 2), which is decorated with similar ruyi-shaped panels on the shoulders, but with only a single band in black enamel rather than a double-band in black and red as in the case of the current vase. Similar treatment of a double-band border on shaped panels is also found on the massive hu-form taotie vase in this sale, see lot 2805.
The motif of the bi-disc is rarely seen on cloisonné enamel vessels, although it can be found on the body of a pagoda-form censer, and on the middle register of a large cloisonné enamel pou, both of the Qianlong period and formerly in the Juan Jose Amezaga Collection, sold at Christie’s Paris, 13 June 2007, lots 23 and 25, respectively; as well as on the upper body of a large cloisonné censer dating to the mid-Qing dynasty in the Palace Museum, Beijing, illustrated in Compendium of Collections in the Palace Museum, Enamels-3-Cloisonne in the Qing Dynasty, Beijing, 2011, pp. 236, no. 202, where the bi-disc occupies a more prominent role on each side of the body and is held by two mythical beasts above a taotie mask.
The Qing Court Collection has a number of cloisonné enamel vessels set with similar gilt-bronze phoenix handles, although very few of them are executed with the same degree of meticulous attention to detail. Examples include a cloisonné enamel zun with handles of similar form but of less elongated form (fig. 1); a censer with handles in the form of phoenix with abstract scrolling bodies; and a censer flanked by a pair of abstract stylised phoenix handles, all dating to the mid-Qing period and illustrated in Compendium of Collections in the Palace Museum - Enamels (3) - Cloisonne in the Qing Dynasty (1644-1911), Beijing, 2011, nos. 77, 197, and 206 respectively.
Compare, also a massive cloisonné enamel censer with gilt-bronze phoenix handles of the Qianlong period sold at Christie’s Hong Kong, 29 November 2017, lot 2915 (fig. 2), which is decorated with similar ruyi-shaped panels on the shoulders, but with only a single band in black enamel rather than a double-band in black and red as in the case of the current vase. Similar treatment of a double-band border on shaped panels is also found on the massive hu-form taotie vase in this sale, see lot 2805.
The motif of the bi-disc is rarely seen on cloisonné enamel vessels, although it can be found on the body of a pagoda-form censer, and on the middle register of a large cloisonné enamel pou, both of the Qianlong period and formerly in the Juan Jose Amezaga Collection, sold at Christie’s Paris, 13 June 2007, lots 23 and 25, respectively; as well as on the upper body of a large cloisonné censer dating to the mid-Qing dynasty in the Palace Museum, Beijing, illustrated in Compendium of Collections in the Palace Museum, Enamels-3-Cloisonne in the Qing Dynasty, Beijing, 2011, pp. 236, no. 202, where the bi-disc occupies a more prominent role on each side of the body and is held by two mythical beasts above a taotie mask.