.jpg?w=1)
.jpg?w=1)
.jpg?w=1)
.jpg?w=1)
Lot Essay
The design, shape, and size of this pair of vases are inspired by the famille rose porcelain 'hundred deer' vases from the Qianlong period. These porcelain prototypes are held in various collections, including one at the Beijing Palace Museum, as illustrated in Porcelains with Cloisonné Enamel Decoration and Famille Rose Decoration, The Complete Collection of Treasures of the Palace Museum, vol. 39, Hong Kong, 1999, pl. 85. Additionally, an example was offered at Christie's Paris on 13 December 2017, lot 98. The 'hundred deer' vases are highly regarded and treasured among the porcelains from the Qianlong era.
The 'hundred deer' theme was first adopted in porcelain during the middle Ming period, as exemplified by a Wanli (AD 1573-1620) wucai jar in the Musée Guimet, Paris (illustrated in The World's Great Collections - Oriental Ceramics Vol. 7 - Musée Guimet, Paris, Kodansha, Tokyo, 1981, no. 26). This theme held significant meaning for the Qianlong emperor, evident in numerous court paintings from his reign, as well as in the porcelain 'hundred deer' vases. His fondness for this motif extended to cloisonné, as seen in a plaque from the collection of S. Soames, which features a river landscape inhabited by 'hundred deer' (refer to Sir Harry Garner's Chinese and Japanese Cloisonné Enamels, Faber & Faber, London, 1962, p. 93 and pl. 77). The back of this plaque bears an inscription of a Qianlong poem in which the emperor reflects on the deer and their young in the royal park, noting their lack of fear due to the imperial decree protecting them from archers and their arrows.
While the porcelain 'hundred deer' vases depict deer in a landscape, this particular pair of cloisonné vases features both deer and cranes. In this context, the deer symbolize career advancement and longevity, while the cranes serve as additional symbols of a long life. The pairing of deer and cranes can also be found on a select few other 18th-century cloisonné enamelled vessels, highlighting a shared thematic significance in this decorative tradition.
A comparable vase from the George Walter Vincent Smith Collection, for example, is illustrated by B. Quette, Cloisonné: Chinese Enamels from the Yuan, Ming, and Qing Dynasties, New York, Paris, New Haven and London, 2011, pl. 139. Deer running across the landscape and drinking at a stream with cranes flying overhead can be seen on a large 18th century cloisonné fish bowl in the Uldry Collection (illustrated by H. Brinker and A. Lutz in Chinesisches Cloisonné Die Sammlung Pierre Uldry, Museum Rietberg, Zurich, 1985, pls. 322, 322a-b). Deer and cranes appear relatively rarely on earlier cloisonne enamels, although a cylindrical flower holder with a Jingtai mark and a design of deer and cranes is in the collection of the National Palace Museum (illustrated in Enamel Ware in the Ming and Ch'ing Dynasties, National Palace Museum, Taipei, 1999, pp. 68-9, no. 3), and cranes decorate a pair of jardinieres and a dish dating to the 15th century in the Pierre Uldry Collection (see Chinesisches Cloisonne Die Sammlung Pierre Uldry, op. cit., pls. 28-30).
A single vase of the same form decorated with deer in a landscape from the George Walter Vincent Smith Art Museum was included in the exhibition Cloisonné: Chinese Enamels from the Yuan, Ming and Qing Dynasties, Bard Graduate Center, New York, 2011 and illustrated in the Catalogue, no. 139. Another similar example to the current vases was sold at Christie's Paris, 14 June 2006, lot 70; and another, at Christie's London, 6 November 2007, lot 97. A pair of cloisonné vases of similar size, dated Qianlong period, from the Mandel collection, was sold at Christie's Hong Kong, 30 May 2012, lot 3911.
The 'hundred deer' theme was first adopted in porcelain during the middle Ming period, as exemplified by a Wanli (AD 1573-1620) wucai jar in the Musée Guimet, Paris (illustrated in The World's Great Collections - Oriental Ceramics Vol. 7 - Musée Guimet, Paris, Kodansha, Tokyo, 1981, no. 26). This theme held significant meaning for the Qianlong emperor, evident in numerous court paintings from his reign, as well as in the porcelain 'hundred deer' vases. His fondness for this motif extended to cloisonné, as seen in a plaque from the collection of S. Soames, which features a river landscape inhabited by 'hundred deer' (refer to Sir Harry Garner's Chinese and Japanese Cloisonné Enamels, Faber & Faber, London, 1962, p. 93 and pl. 77). The back of this plaque bears an inscription of a Qianlong poem in which the emperor reflects on the deer and their young in the royal park, noting their lack of fear due to the imperial decree protecting them from archers and their arrows.
While the porcelain 'hundred deer' vases depict deer in a landscape, this particular pair of cloisonné vases features both deer and cranes. In this context, the deer symbolize career advancement and longevity, while the cranes serve as additional symbols of a long life. The pairing of deer and cranes can also be found on a select few other 18th-century cloisonné enamelled vessels, highlighting a shared thematic significance in this decorative tradition.
A comparable vase from the George Walter Vincent Smith Collection, for example, is illustrated by B. Quette, Cloisonné: Chinese Enamels from the Yuan, Ming, and Qing Dynasties, New York, Paris, New Haven and London, 2011, pl. 139. Deer running across the landscape and drinking at a stream with cranes flying overhead can be seen on a large 18th century cloisonné fish bowl in the Uldry Collection (illustrated by H. Brinker and A. Lutz in Chinesisches Cloisonné Die Sammlung Pierre Uldry, Museum Rietberg, Zurich, 1985, pls. 322, 322a-b). Deer and cranes appear relatively rarely on earlier cloisonne enamels, although a cylindrical flower holder with a Jingtai mark and a design of deer and cranes is in the collection of the National Palace Museum (illustrated in Enamel Ware in the Ming and Ch'ing Dynasties, National Palace Museum, Taipei, 1999, pp. 68-9, no. 3), and cranes decorate a pair of jardinieres and a dish dating to the 15th century in the Pierre Uldry Collection (see Chinesisches Cloisonne Die Sammlung Pierre Uldry, op. cit., pls. 28-30).
A single vase of the same form decorated with deer in a landscape from the George Walter Vincent Smith Art Museum was included in the exhibition Cloisonné: Chinese Enamels from the Yuan, Ming and Qing Dynasties, Bard Graduate Center, New York, 2011 and illustrated in the Catalogue, no. 139. Another similar example to the current vases was sold at Christie's Paris, 14 June 2006, lot 70; and another, at Christie's London, 6 November 2007, lot 97. A pair of cloisonné vases of similar size, dated Qianlong period, from the Mandel collection, was sold at Christie's Hong Kong, 30 May 2012, lot 3911.