QIANLONG PERIOD (1736-1795)

Details

A RARE CLOSIONNE ENAMEL 'LANDSCAPE' SQUARE VASE, CONG
QIANLONG PERIOD (1736-1795)
Each side of the square-section vase is elaborately decorated against a turquoise ground with a different scene of pavilions in a mountainous landscape setting. On one scene an angular bridge leads to a pavilion standing on a platform supported on pilings rising from a lake. On another a waterfall cascades from the surrounding rocks. The shoulder, neck and pedestal foot are similarly decorated with lotus scroll.
11 1/2 in. (29.2 cm.) high

Literature

Reverence and Perfection: Magnificent Imperial Cloisonné Enamels from a Private European Collection, Hong Kong, 2013, no. 31

Exhibited

Roger Keverne, Fine and Rare Chinese Works of Art and Ceramics, London, 2 November 2006, Catalogue, no. 78

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Lot Essay

It is rare to find a cloisonne enamel vase in cong form but the current vase relates closely to a vase of this shape in the Qing Court Collection (fig. 1), also decorated on the sides with different scenes of pavilions in mountainous landscapes and dated to the mid-Qing period. This example, together with a number of other cong-form vases of different sizes and themes of decoration, is illustrated in Compendium of Collections in the Palace Museum - Enamels (3) - Cloisonne in the Qing Dynasty (1644-1911), Beijing, 2011, pls. 135-140. Compare also to a Qianlong-marked cloisonne enamel cong vase, enamelled on each facet with two columns of Daoist trigrams in gold, sold at Christie's Hong Kong, 28 October 2002, lot 779.

This type of unusual cong vase appears to be related to porcelain vases of similar shape produced in the same period, such as a famille rose vase included in the exhibition The Life of Emperor Qianlong, The Macao Museum of Art, 2002, pp. 272-273, no. 87. Like the current vase, this porcelain example also depicts various landscape scenes with pavilions, but only on two of the sides, while the other two sides are inscribed with imperial poems composed by the Qianlong Emperor.

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