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

The motifs on the present vase are exceptionally well rendered with fine delineation and different tonalities of gold creating sharp contrast with the sapphire-blue ground. The combination of butterflies and gourds form the auspicious rebus guadie mianmian, 'May you have ceaseless generatinos of descendants'.

A Qianlong-marked double-gourd shape vase bearing very similar design of gold-enamelled butterflies and gourds on a blue ground was displayed in the Min Chiu Society exhibition Splendour of the Qing Dynasty, Hong Kong, 1992, cat. no. 228. Compare also to a Jiaqing-marked blue-ground baluster vase gilt-decorated with lotus and dragons, sold at Sotheby's Hong Kong, 8 April 2007, lot 510.