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Lot Essay
Playful Imperial Lions
Rosemary Scott
Independent Scholar
This handsome Qianlong vase was made in an especially pleasing version of a popular shape, known as ‘garlic-mouth vase’, or ‘garlic head vase’, suan tou ping 蒜頭瓶in Chinese. Bronze vases with bulbous bodies, slender necks and garlic-clove shaped mouths appeared in China as early as the late Bronze Age during the Warring States (c. 475 – 221 BCE) and Han (202 BCE –220 CE) dynasties. A number of bronze vases of this shape have survived from the late Bronze Age, including that illustrated by Jenny So in Eastern Zhou Ritual Bronzes from the Arthur M. Sackler Collections, New York, 1995, no. 52. The popularity of such early bronze garlic-mouth vases, as well as the admiration they received from Song and Yuan collectors, is evidenced by the fact that illustrations of such pieces can be found in the catalogue of the Song Emperor Huizong’s (1100-1126) archaic bronze collection, Xuanhe bogu tu [Illustrated Catalogue of Antique Objects in the Xuanhe era].
Not only did the collection of Bronze Age garlic-mouth vessels inspire Song dynasty bronze vessels of the same form, but such vessels continued to be made in succeeding dynasties. An example is the Yuan bronze garlic-mouth vase in the collection of the Victoria and Albert Museum, illustrated by Rose Kerr in Later Chinese Bronzes, London, 1990, p. 25, pl. 14 (right), while bronze vases of this form were also retrieved from the cargo of the Sinan wreck, which foundered off the coast of Korea en route for Japan in AD 1323 (illustrated in Relics Salvaged from the Seabed off Sinan, Seoul, 1985, pp. 145 & 152, nos. 145 & 219).
Ceramic garlic-mouth vases are known from the Tang dynasty, and developed in earthenware, stoneware, and, later, in porcelain. Two Longquan celadon garlic-mouth vases, one plain - with only two moulded bow-string bands - and one moulded with floral motifs, were among the cargo the Sinan wreck, mentioned above, and illustrated in Relics Salvaged from the Seabed off Sinan, op. cit., pp. 38-39, nos. 31 & 32. However, the form is relatively rare amongst Yuan dynasty ceramics, but appeared with increasing frequency in the ceramics of the succeeding Ming and Qing dynasties.
Imperial porcelain garlic-mouth vases seem to have reached a peak of popularity during the reign of the Qianlong Emperor, when among examples made for the court were those bearing monochrome glazes, overglaze enamel decoration, and fine underglaze decoration – like that seen on the current vase. It is worth noting that the garlic-shape of the mouth on such vases not only created an attractive form, it was also auspicious, since garlic was believed to counteract poison.
The current vase enjoys a particularly successful harmony of shape and decoration. The body of the vessel is somewhat flattened and wider than on some other Qianlong garlic-mouth vases, creating a more pronounced, and, arguably, a more elegant, S-profile. In terms of the underglaze decoration, the mouth of the vase is encircled with underglaze blue ruyi, which are arranged to emphasise the widening of the ‘garlic’ bulb. The next portion of the neck is undecorated above a band of alternating tall and shorter formal leaves, below which is a raised ‘bow-string’ band, which provides a link to the original bronze form. Below the raised band is a second small ruyi band on the lower neck. The full body section of the vase, however, is given over to the main decorative theme, without distracting minor bands. The main decoration depicts three male Buddhist lions playing with beribboned embroidered balls amongst wispy flames. The flames, the balls and the head and body of the lions are all painted in raspberry-coloured underglaze copper red. The ribbons attached to the balls, as well as the manes, tails and details of the lions are all in underglaze cobalt blue. Buddhist lions and beribboned balls were a popular motif on imperial porcelains of both the Ming and Qing dynasties. Lions were regarded as powerful creatures, suitable to act as guardians, and pairs of lions were often placed at the entrance to official buildings. These paired statues are usually made up of a female lion with her paw resting on a cub, and a male state with his paw on a brocaded ball. On the vase, only male lions are shown, playing with brocaded balls. The ribbons which extend from the balls signify long life. When painted on porcelain, these lions are sometimes depicted as very fierce, but the creatures on the current vase are shown as particularly playful and charming.
A Qianlong garlic-mouth vase decorated in underglaze blue and red with Buddhist lions, was sold by Christie’s New York on 22 March 2013, lot 1491. (Fig. 1)In comparison to its body width, this vase had a narrower ‘bulb’ and a less pronounced s-shaped profile than the current vase. It was also somewhat taller, had three ‘bowstring’ lines around the neck, and the decoration of the mouth and neck was more complex. Other Qianlong vases decorated with Buddhist lions playing with balls, similar to the 2013 vase have been published. One in the collection of the Shanghai Museum is illustrated in Underglaze Blue and Red, Shanghai Museum, Shanghai, 1987, no. 126. Another from the Tianminlou collection is illustrated in Chinese Porcelain: The S.C. Ko Tianminlou Collection, Hong Kong Museum of Art, 1987, vol. I, pl. 113, and vol. II, pp. 155-57. A further example was sold at Christie's Hong Kong on 2 November 1999, lot 601. (Fig. 2)
An interesting feature of the current vase, as well as the garlic-mouth lion vases in the Shanghai Museum and the Tianminlou collections, is the very successful rendering of the underglaze copper red on the lions and balls. Even in the 18th century, underglaze copper red could be unstable, and could ‘bleed’ into the surrounding glaze. On these vases, the ceramic decorators at the imperial kilns seemed to have attempted to pre-empt this potential problem by applying the underglaze copper red to the lions and balls using very small, closely spaced dots of pigment, which are only apparent on relatively close inspection. These tiny dots provide a subtle texture, but may also have helped to prevent the copper from ‘bleeding’ into the glaze.
This vase bears a distinctive, well-written six-character underglaze blue Qianlong seal mark on its base. The Hong Kong scholar, Professor Peter Lam 林業強has undertaken considerable research into the reign marks of the Qianlong reign, and, on the basis of this work has proposed a timeline, which can be applied to them. His research was presented to the Oriental Ceramic Society of London in December 2009, and was published in an article entitled ‘Towards a Dating Framework For Qianlong Imperial Porcelain’, Transactions of the Oriental Ceramic Society, Volume 74 , 2009-2010, London, 2011, pp. 1-33. The reign mark on the current vase equates to marks designated ‘Type 4’ by Lam (see ‘Towards a Dating Framework for Qianlong Imperial Porcelain’, op. cit., pp. 23 and 24, fig. 22). In his description of this mark, Lam points out that it is one of the most atypical of the Qianlong seal marks, with several features which do not conform to the usual construction of seal characters. He notes peculiarities in the qing, qian and nian characters. Lam also refers to a 1993 publication by the late Beijing scholar Professor Geng Baochang (耿寳昌1922-2025), in which Geng noted the pieces that he had seen and handled which bear this mark (see Geng Baochang, Ming Qing ciqii jianding [Connoisseurship of Ming and Qing Porcelain], Hong Kong, 1993, p. 344). Professor Geng was of the opinion that this particular mark was probably related to the great imperial ceramicist Tang Ying (唐英 1682-1756), and Professor Lam notes that, as Tang Ying retired from office and died in the 21st year of Qianlong (1756), the mark – and, by extension, the porcelains bearing it - would predate that year. It is interesting to note that the Shanghai Museum vase and that from the Tianminlou collection, mentioned above, both bear a similar mark, suggesting that all were probably made around the same date.
Rosemary Scott
Independent Scholar
This handsome Qianlong vase was made in an especially pleasing version of a popular shape, known as ‘garlic-mouth vase’, or ‘garlic head vase’, suan tou ping 蒜頭瓶in Chinese. Bronze vases with bulbous bodies, slender necks and garlic-clove shaped mouths appeared in China as early as the late Bronze Age during the Warring States (c. 475 – 221 BCE) and Han (202 BCE –220 CE) dynasties. A number of bronze vases of this shape have survived from the late Bronze Age, including that illustrated by Jenny So in Eastern Zhou Ritual Bronzes from the Arthur M. Sackler Collections, New York, 1995, no. 52. The popularity of such early bronze garlic-mouth vases, as well as the admiration they received from Song and Yuan collectors, is evidenced by the fact that illustrations of such pieces can be found in the catalogue of the Song Emperor Huizong’s (1100-1126) archaic bronze collection, Xuanhe bogu tu [Illustrated Catalogue of Antique Objects in the Xuanhe era].
Not only did the collection of Bronze Age garlic-mouth vessels inspire Song dynasty bronze vessels of the same form, but such vessels continued to be made in succeeding dynasties. An example is the Yuan bronze garlic-mouth vase in the collection of the Victoria and Albert Museum, illustrated by Rose Kerr in Later Chinese Bronzes, London, 1990, p. 25, pl. 14 (right), while bronze vases of this form were also retrieved from the cargo of the Sinan wreck, which foundered off the coast of Korea en route for Japan in AD 1323 (illustrated in Relics Salvaged from the Seabed off Sinan, Seoul, 1985, pp. 145 & 152, nos. 145 & 219).
Ceramic garlic-mouth vases are known from the Tang dynasty, and developed in earthenware, stoneware, and, later, in porcelain. Two Longquan celadon garlic-mouth vases, one plain - with only two moulded bow-string bands - and one moulded with floral motifs, were among the cargo the Sinan wreck, mentioned above, and illustrated in Relics Salvaged from the Seabed off Sinan, op. cit., pp. 38-39, nos. 31 & 32. However, the form is relatively rare amongst Yuan dynasty ceramics, but appeared with increasing frequency in the ceramics of the succeeding Ming and Qing dynasties.
Imperial porcelain garlic-mouth vases seem to have reached a peak of popularity during the reign of the Qianlong Emperor, when among examples made for the court were those bearing monochrome glazes, overglaze enamel decoration, and fine underglaze decoration – like that seen on the current vase. It is worth noting that the garlic-shape of the mouth on such vases not only created an attractive form, it was also auspicious, since garlic was believed to counteract poison.
The current vase enjoys a particularly successful harmony of shape and decoration. The body of the vessel is somewhat flattened and wider than on some other Qianlong garlic-mouth vases, creating a more pronounced, and, arguably, a more elegant, S-profile. In terms of the underglaze decoration, the mouth of the vase is encircled with underglaze blue ruyi, which are arranged to emphasise the widening of the ‘garlic’ bulb. The next portion of the neck is undecorated above a band of alternating tall and shorter formal leaves, below which is a raised ‘bow-string’ band, which provides a link to the original bronze form. Below the raised band is a second small ruyi band on the lower neck. The full body section of the vase, however, is given over to the main decorative theme, without distracting minor bands. The main decoration depicts three male Buddhist lions playing with beribboned embroidered balls amongst wispy flames. The flames, the balls and the head and body of the lions are all painted in raspberry-coloured underglaze copper red. The ribbons attached to the balls, as well as the manes, tails and details of the lions are all in underglaze cobalt blue. Buddhist lions and beribboned balls were a popular motif on imperial porcelains of both the Ming and Qing dynasties. Lions were regarded as powerful creatures, suitable to act as guardians, and pairs of lions were often placed at the entrance to official buildings. These paired statues are usually made up of a female lion with her paw resting on a cub, and a male state with his paw on a brocaded ball. On the vase, only male lions are shown, playing with brocaded balls. The ribbons which extend from the balls signify long life. When painted on porcelain, these lions are sometimes depicted as very fierce, but the creatures on the current vase are shown as particularly playful and charming.
A Qianlong garlic-mouth vase decorated in underglaze blue and red with Buddhist lions, was sold by Christie’s New York on 22 March 2013, lot 1491. (Fig. 1)In comparison to its body width, this vase had a narrower ‘bulb’ and a less pronounced s-shaped profile than the current vase. It was also somewhat taller, had three ‘bowstring’ lines around the neck, and the decoration of the mouth and neck was more complex. Other Qianlong vases decorated with Buddhist lions playing with balls, similar to the 2013 vase have been published. One in the collection of the Shanghai Museum is illustrated in Underglaze Blue and Red, Shanghai Museum, Shanghai, 1987, no. 126. Another from the Tianminlou collection is illustrated in Chinese Porcelain: The S.C. Ko Tianminlou Collection, Hong Kong Museum of Art, 1987, vol. I, pl. 113, and vol. II, pp. 155-57. A further example was sold at Christie's Hong Kong on 2 November 1999, lot 601. (Fig. 2)
An interesting feature of the current vase, as well as the garlic-mouth lion vases in the Shanghai Museum and the Tianminlou collections, is the very successful rendering of the underglaze copper red on the lions and balls. Even in the 18th century, underglaze copper red could be unstable, and could ‘bleed’ into the surrounding glaze. On these vases, the ceramic decorators at the imperial kilns seemed to have attempted to pre-empt this potential problem by applying the underglaze copper red to the lions and balls using very small, closely spaced dots of pigment, which are only apparent on relatively close inspection. These tiny dots provide a subtle texture, but may also have helped to prevent the copper from ‘bleeding’ into the glaze.
This vase bears a distinctive, well-written six-character underglaze blue Qianlong seal mark on its base. The Hong Kong scholar, Professor Peter Lam 林業強has undertaken considerable research into the reign marks of the Qianlong reign, and, on the basis of this work has proposed a timeline, which can be applied to them. His research was presented to the Oriental Ceramic Society of London in December 2009, and was published in an article entitled ‘Towards a Dating Framework For Qianlong Imperial Porcelain’, Transactions of the Oriental Ceramic Society, Volume 74 , 2009-2010, London, 2011, pp. 1-33. The reign mark on the current vase equates to marks designated ‘Type 4’ by Lam (see ‘Towards a Dating Framework for Qianlong Imperial Porcelain’, op. cit., pp. 23 and 24, fig. 22). In his description of this mark, Lam points out that it is one of the most atypical of the Qianlong seal marks, with several features which do not conform to the usual construction of seal characters. He notes peculiarities in the qing, qian and nian characters. Lam also refers to a 1993 publication by the late Beijing scholar Professor Geng Baochang (耿寳昌1922-2025), in which Geng noted the pieces that he had seen and handled which bear this mark (see Geng Baochang, Ming Qing ciqii jianding [Connoisseurship of Ming and Qing Porcelain], Hong Kong, 1993, p. 344). Professor Geng was of the opinion that this particular mark was probably related to the great imperial ceramicist Tang Ying (唐英 1682-1756), and Professor Lam notes that, as Tang Ying retired from office and died in the 21st year of Qianlong (1756), the mark – and, by extension, the porcelains bearing it - would predate that year. It is interesting to note that the Shanghai Museum vase and that from the Tianminlou collection, mentioned above, both bear a similar mark, suggesting that all were probably made around the same date.