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Lot Essay
The vase is moulded around the spreading foot and flared neck with archaistic lappets enamelled in turquoise in imitation of bronze encrustation, framing a central section decorated with confronted kui dragons divided by raised flanges, all reserved against a russet glaze suffused with gold specks stimulating gilt-bronze.
Porcelain imitations reached remarkable heights of verisimilitude during the Qianlong reign, with those simulating archaic bronzes representing the pinnacle of success of this ceramic production success. The present lot belongs to a distinct group of porcelain imitating archaic bronzes to satisfy the emperor's passion for antiquarianism and collecting. To achieve the convincing effect of gilt-bronze and patination seen here, the vessel was first fired with a dark teadust glaze before undergoing a second firing following the application of turquoise and splashed-gold enamels.
Compare a slightly shorter Qianlong-marked imitation bronze gu with a wider midsection in the collection of The Palace Museum, Beijing, illustrated in The Complete Collection of Treasures of the Palace Museum, Porcelains with Cloisonné Enamel Decoration and Famille Rose Decoration, Hong Kong, 1999, p. 169, no. 150 (fig. 1); this vase features similar turquoise and splashed-gold enameling in reverse placement, alongside flanges extending across all three sections.
For two related Qianlong-marked imitation bronze gu, compare one with a teadust glaze, sold at Christie’s New York, 15 September 2011, lot 1602 (fig. 2); another is decorated with Daoist trigrams and covered with a dark olive-green and brown glaze, formerly in the collection of J. M. Hu, sold at Christie’s Hong Kong, 30 May 2005, lot 1239 (fig. 3). Compare also a similarly glazed Qianlong-marked bottle vase, also moulded with archaistic dragons, formerly in the collection of W. W. Winkworth, sold at Sotheby’s Hong Kong, 4 October 2011, lot 1949 (price realised HKD12,980,000).
Porcelain imitations reached remarkable heights of verisimilitude during the Qianlong reign, with those simulating archaic bronzes representing the pinnacle of success of this ceramic production success. The present lot belongs to a distinct group of porcelain imitating archaic bronzes to satisfy the emperor's passion for antiquarianism and collecting. To achieve the convincing effect of gilt-bronze and patination seen here, the vessel was first fired with a dark teadust glaze before undergoing a second firing following the application of turquoise and splashed-gold enamels.
Compare a slightly shorter Qianlong-marked imitation bronze gu with a wider midsection in the collection of The Palace Museum, Beijing, illustrated in The Complete Collection of Treasures of the Palace Museum, Porcelains with Cloisonné Enamel Decoration and Famille Rose Decoration, Hong Kong, 1999, p. 169, no. 150 (fig. 1); this vase features similar turquoise and splashed-gold enameling in reverse placement, alongside flanges extending across all three sections.
For two related Qianlong-marked imitation bronze gu, compare one with a teadust glaze, sold at Christie’s New York, 15 September 2011, lot 1602 (fig. 2); another is decorated with Daoist trigrams and covered with a dark olive-green and brown glaze, formerly in the collection of J. M. Hu, sold at Christie’s Hong Kong, 30 May 2005, lot 1239 (fig. 3). Compare also a similarly glazed Qianlong-marked bottle vase, also moulded with archaistic dragons, formerly in the collection of W. W. Winkworth, sold at Sotheby’s Hong Kong, 4 October 2011, lot 1949 (price realised HKD12,980,000).