A RARE LARGE UNDERGLAZE BLUE AND COPPER-RED DECORATED ‘BATS AND CLOUDS’ OLIVE-SHAPED VASE
A RARE LARGE UNDERGLAZE BLUE AND COPPER-RED DECORATED ‘BATS AND CLOUDS’ OLIVE-SHAPED VASE
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A RARE LARGE UNDERGLAZE BLUE AND COPPER-RED DECORATED ‘BATS AND CLOUDS’ OLIVE-SHAPED VASE

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

Details
A RARE LARGE UNDERGLAZE BLUE AND COPPER-RED DECORATED ‘BATS AND CLOUDS’ OLIVE-SHAPED VASE
QIANLONG SIX-CHARACTER SEAL MARK IN UNDERGLAZE BLUE AND OF THE PERIOD (1736-1795)
19 3⁄4 in. (50 cm.) high
Provenance
A Bordeaux family collection, since the first half of the 20th century, by repute

Lot Essay

The vase is finely painted in underglaze red with a multitude of bats in flight amid clouds, above a band of waves surrounding the foot, and between underglaze-blue lines on the mouth rim and foot rim. ‘Red’, is a homophone for ‘abundance’, and ‘bat’ is a homophone for ‘fortune’ – thus, depicting bats in underglaze red conveys the meaning of ‘boundless fortune from heaven’. Compare to a nearly identical example in the Tokyo National Museum, collection number TG-2675 (fig. 1).

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