JIAQING SIX-CHARACTER SEALMARK IN IRON-RED AND OF THE PERIOD (1796-1820)

Details

A LIME-GREEN GROUND FAMILLE ROSE TWIN-HANDLED VASE
JIAQING SIX-CHARACTER SEALMARK IN IRON-RED AND OF THE PERIOD (1796-1820)
The bulbous body and tall flaring neck are elaborately enamelled with colourful lotus blooms, bats and peaches, all set against a lime-green ground and separated by bands of ruyi heads, key fret and foliate scrolls. The neck is further decorated with a pair of animal mask handles suspending gilt rings. The spreading foot is encircled by foliate borders, below a band of overlapping blue and pink lotus petals rising from the lower body of the vessel. The interior and base are decorated with a turquoise enamel.
7 ¾ in. (19.8 cm.) high

Provenance

Acquired in Taipei circa 2003

Special notice

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Lot Essay

The decoration skilfully executed on this vase is replete with auspicious symbolism. The iconography of the bat (representing happiness), peach (representing longevity) and lotus (representing continuity) form the rebus for 'May happiness and longevity continue for years to come'.
Compare the present lot to similar lime-green ground examples from this period, including a Jiaqing-marked meiping decorated with Indian lotus amidst Shou and Fu characters from the Qing Court Collection, illustrated in Porcelains with Cloisonne Enamel Decoration and Famille Rose Decoration, The Complete Collection of Treasures of the Palace Museum, Hong Kong, 1999, p. 195, no. 172; and
a Jiaqing-marked lantern vase with exotic flowers, op. cit., pl. 173. Similar designs are also seen on earlier Qianlong period prototypes, such as a Qianlong-marked vase detailed with lotus borne on tendrils between phoenix on a lime-green ground, included in the Nanjing Museum and Chinese University of Hong Kong joint exhibition Qing imperial Porcelain, Hong Kong, 1995, Catalogue, no. 96.

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