CHINE, DYNASTIE QING, MARQUE À SIX CARACTÈRES EN CACHET EN ROUGE DE FER ET ÉPOQUE JIAQING (1796-1820)

A related yellow-ground lantern vase and cover, Jiaqing mark and period, with flowerheads, similar ruyi band and pink-ground band on the foot and cover rim was sold by Sotheby’s Hong Kong in their auction of Fine Chinese Ceramics and Works of Art, 8 October 2013, lot 3257; another green ground Jiaqing example with flowerheads, ruyi shoulder band, and similar lappets above the foot and on the neck, in the Qing Court Collection is illustrated by Yang Xin in Porcelains with Cloisonné Enamel Decoration and Famille Rose Decoration, The Complete Collection of Treasures of the Palace Museum, Beijing, Vol. 39, no. 173, p. 196.
A similar smaller vase and cover in the Qing Court Collection, painted with boys, Qianlong mark and period, is illustrated by Yang Xin in Porcelains with Cloisonné Enamel Decoration and Famille Rose Decoration, The Complete Collection of Treasures of the Palace Museum, Beijing, Vol. 39, no. 128, p. 146.
This vase combines two classic rebuses: the bat, fu, supporting the music stone, qing, joined together form fuqing, ‘happiness and good fortune’, and the rebus with the endless knot, panchang, and the shou character, joined together form changshou, ‘May you have a very long life’.