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Lot Essay
The circular body is raised on a spreading rectangular foot supporting a short cylindrical neck flanked by openwork archaistic dragon handles above pairs of angular-loops. One broad side is enamelled with a pair of swallows beside a blossoming prunus tree, the reverse with two long-beaked kingfishers among the branches of a blossoming tree peony; each scene surrounded by a border of ruyi heads. The narrow sides are enamelled with chilong climbing among iris meanders on a yellow ground.
The construction of the current vase is particularly faithful to its metal or leather prototype, including loops on the shoulders and perforations on the foot, which would have originally served for suspension. At the same time, innovations were applied to the design, utilising the newly developed yangcai palette to create colourful pictorial scenes on the two broad sides, making this vase a wonderful example of Qianlong-period blend of novelty and archaism.
Flower-and-bird is one of the most favourite subjects in traditional Chinese paintings, and is a beloved theme enjoyed by the Qianlong Emperor. During the Qianlong period, the renowned court painter Yu Xing was commissioned to reproduce the Manual of Birds, a painting album executed by the Kangxi-period painter Jiang Tingxi. Four albums from this set are preserved in the Palace Museum, Taipei, with the remainder housed in the Palace Museum, Beijing. These albums have profound influence on decorative designs of imperial porcelains. For example, the birds depicted on our current vase are highly likely inspired by two leaves from the Manual preserved in the Palace Museum, Beijing, one painted with a pair of swallows perching on a prunus branch, while the other portraying a long-beaked bird (fig. 1).
It is very rare to find a Qianlong flask of this decoration. Compare to a larger Qianlong yangcai example of similar shape and on a yellow ground depicting boys at play, housed in the Palace Museum, Taipei, collection number: guci005105N (fig. 2). See also another Qianlong moonflask decorated with chrysanthemum and peony, the reverse with an imperial poem, published in Geng Baochang, Ming Qing Ciqi Jianding, Hong Kong, 1993, no.477.
The construction of the current vase is particularly faithful to its metal or leather prototype, including loops on the shoulders and perforations on the foot, which would have originally served for suspension. At the same time, innovations were applied to the design, utilising the newly developed yangcai palette to create colourful pictorial scenes on the two broad sides, making this vase a wonderful example of Qianlong-period blend of novelty and archaism.
Flower-and-bird is one of the most favourite subjects in traditional Chinese paintings, and is a beloved theme enjoyed by the Qianlong Emperor. During the Qianlong period, the renowned court painter Yu Xing was commissioned to reproduce the Manual of Birds, a painting album executed by the Kangxi-period painter Jiang Tingxi. Four albums from this set are preserved in the Palace Museum, Taipei, with the remainder housed in the Palace Museum, Beijing. These albums have profound influence on decorative designs of imperial porcelains. For example, the birds depicted on our current vase are highly likely inspired by two leaves from the Manual preserved in the Palace Museum, Beijing, one painted with a pair of swallows perching on a prunus branch, while the other portraying a long-beaked bird (fig. 1).
It is very rare to find a Qianlong flask of this decoration. Compare to a larger Qianlong yangcai example of similar shape and on a yellow ground depicting boys at play, housed in the Palace Museum, Taipei, collection number: guci005105N (fig. 2). See also another Qianlong moonflask decorated with chrysanthemum and peony, the reverse with an imperial poem, published in Geng Baochang, Ming Qing Ciqi Jianding, Hong Kong, 1993, no.477.