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

Details

A LARGE BLUE AND WHITE ‘SANDUO’ HEXAGONAL VASE
QIANLONG SIX-CHARACTER SEAL MARK IN UNDERGLAZE BLUE AND OF THE PERIOD (1736-1795)
The vase is painted on the facetted sides of the body in delicate shades of blue with sprays of pomegranate, peach and persimmon alternating with branches of peony, chrysanthemum and lotus, all emerging from lingzhi fungi. The trumpet neck of conforming shape further is painted with six detached composite floral sprays, all bordered by bands of keyfret and trefoil.
26 in. (66 cm.) high

Provenance

Sold at Sotheby’s London, 13 July 2006, lot 624

Brought to you by

Priscilla Kong

pkong@christies.com +852 2978 9958

Lot Essay

A pair of identical vases is displayed in the Chuxiu Gong, ‘Palace of Assembled Elegance’, in the Forbidden City, indicating that impressive and elegantly decorated vases of this type were made as display objects for the Imperial palace.

Vases of this shape and decoration were first made in the Yongzheng reign. Refer to a Yongzheng-marked example in the collection of Musée Guimet, Paris, illustrated in Sekai Toji Zenshu - Qing Dynasty, vol.15, Japan, 1983, p. 149, pl. 150. A Qianlong vase of this pattern is illustrated in Geng Baochang, Ming Qing ciqi jianding, Qingdai bufen, fig. 146. Another is included in Selected Masterpieces of the Matsuoka Museum of Art, 1975, no. 102.

Compare also to a very similar Qianlong vase, sold at Sotheby’s Hong Kong, 30 April 1991, lot 73, and again at Sotheby’s Hong Kong, 5 October 2011, lot 1920.

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