QIANLONG RED-ENAMELLED FOUR-CHARACTER MARK AND OF THE PERIOD (1736-1795)

Painted enamels were known as ‘foreign enamels’. The technique was developed in Europe in Flanders at the borders between Belgium, France and Netherlands. In late 15th century the town Limoges, in west central France, became the centre for enamel production. As the maritime trade flourished between East and West, enamels were introduced to China via the trading port Canton (Guangzhou). The Qing court then set up Imperial ateliers to produce enamelled metal wares in the Kangxi period. In the early period, due to insufficient technical knowledge, only small vessels were made, with limited palette and murky colours. By the late Kangxi period, a wider range of brighter and purer colours became available, resulting in clearer decorations and a higher level of technical sophistication.

This exquisitely decorated jar represents some of the finest enamel works by the palace workshop in the Qianlong period. The elaborate design, incorporating many foreign elements such as the rococo-style foliage and simulated sash, can be traced back to works made in the Yongzheng period. The National Palace Museum, for example, has a covered jar of identical design bearing a Yongzheng mark, illustrated in Enamel Ware in the Ming and Ch’ing Dynasties, Taipei, 1999, pl. 108. The same publication also illustrated a Qianlong-marked example identical to the current jar, ibid., pl. 109. Four other identical examples with Qianlong marks are known: the first two are in the Beijing Palace Museum, illustrated in Enamels 5, Compendium of Collections in the Palace Museum, Beijing, 2011, pls. 141 and 142 (fig. 1); the third and fourth form the pair formerly in the Alfred Morrison and Fonthill Collections, sold at Christie’s London, 9 November 2004, lot 20.