QIANLONG FOUR-CHARACTER SEAL MARK IN UNDERGLAZE BLUE AND OF THE PERIOD (1736-1795)

The exceptionally small size of the present vase suggests that it was a novelty piece, and probably made for a treasure box or a small display cabinet. At the height of the Qianlong emperor's collecting activities, he amassed more than a million precious art objects, both from antiquity and by contemporary craftsmen. They filled imperial halls and palaces, while smaller objects, like the present vase, were ordered and stored in display cabinets or boxes of many treasures, baibao he. A variety of such boxes are in the collection of the National Palace Museum, Taiwan, and are illustrated in One Hundred Pieces from the Palace Museum, 1990.