A Rare Gilt-Decorated Coral-Ground Double-Gourd Vase

Tax exempt.

PROPERTY BELONGING TO THE CLEVELAND MUSEUM OF ART SOLD TO BENEFIT THE ACQUISITIONS FUND*

A Rare Gilt-Decorated Coral-Ground Double-Gourd Vase

JIAQING SEAL MARK IN IRON RED AND OF THE PERIOD

Details

A Rare Gilt-Decorated Coral-Ground Double-Gourd Vase
Jiaqing seal mark in iron red and of the period
Both the upper and lower bulbs decorated with four lotus scroll roundels incorporating a shou character and a bat on the lower bulb, while on the upper bulb the bats descend from the rim, all divided by lotus spray spandrels, each blossom enclosing another shou character, all within decorative borders and painted in gilding reserved on an orangy red ground, the mouth rim gilded and the interior of the neck and the base covered in a turquoise glaze
11½in. (28.6cm.) high

Special notice

Tax exempt.

Lot Essay

A gourd-shaped vase with nearly identical decoration rendered in gilt, but against a blue ground, was included in the S. Marchant and Son exhibition, Nineteenth Century Mark and Period Porcelain, London, p. 13, no. 1. For a gourd-shaped vase decorated with floral scrolls and bats rendered in gilt against a coral ground, but dating to the Qianlong period, see Qingdai taoci daquan (Qing Dynasty Ceramics), Taipei, 1987/89, no. 123.

This vase is replete with imagery associated with wishes for affluence and progeny: the gourd is representative of fertility due to its many seeds; the lotus is associated with marriage; and bats are associated with good fortune. Such decoration suggests that this vase may have been intended to serve as a wedding gift.

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