A VERY RARE IMPERIAL FAMILLE ROSE ENAMELLED GLASS VASE

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A VERY RARE IMPERIAL FAMILLE ROSE ENAMELLED GLASS VASE
QIANLONG FOUR-CHARACTER MARK AND OF THE PERIOD

Formed as a yellow cloth brocade bag with fluted sides and a pink sash tied around the gathered neck, very finely decorated with twelve blue enamel chilong dragons reserved on a dense composite floral ground, the delicately shaded pink blooms include those of hibiscis, peonies, lotus, prunus, poppies, pinks and lillies together with aubergine pods and small pomegranate borne from scrolling dotted olive-green vines issuing curled tendrils and elegant acanthus leaves of bluish-green tone, below the rim with a key-fret border, the yellow ground of even lemon-yellow tone, the nianhao written within a flower-head to the reverse (body cracks, probably original resulting from firing)--7 1/4in. (18.5cm.) high, box

Provenance

Prince Gong Yixin (1833-1898), Emperor Xianfeng brother and Regent and Minister of Foreign Affairs for the infant Emperor Tongzhi
A.W. Bahr
Paul and Hellen Bernat, sold Hong Kong, 15 November 1988, lot 77

Literature

Harry M. Garner and Margaret Medley, Chinese Art in Three-Dimensional Colour, vol. IV, reel 33, no. 6
Hugh Moss, By Imperial Command, An Introduction to Ch'ing Painted Enamels, pl. 41, attributed to the Peking Palace workshops
Claudia Brown and Donald Rabiner, China House Gallery New York Exhibition, Clear as Crystal, Red as Flame, Later Chinese Glass, Catalogue, 1990, no. 21

Lot Essay

Compare to another closely related Qianlong-marked pouched-shaped glass vase decorated with phoenix and peonies of a yellow ground, also from the collections of Prince Gong Yixin, A.W. Bahr and Paul and Hellen Bernat, sold in Hong Kong 15 November 1988, lot 75

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