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

Fruit and floral forms provided rich inspiration for Qing-dynasty potters, their naturalistic shapes translated into vessel forms and decorative motifs often imbued with auspicious meaning. The pomegranate, a long-standing emblem of fertility and numerous progeny, functions as a rebus for zi (子), meaning 'seed' or 'offspring'. Introduced to China during the Tang dynasty, the motif became as popular as the peach, symbolizing longevity, and its compact, rounded proportions lent particularly well to small vessels such as the present vase.

This elegant, easily-handled form appears to have been first produced in the Yongzheng reign (AD 1723-1735) with a range of monochrome glazes. A comparable celadon-glazed example bearing a Yongzheng mark is in the National Palace Museum, Taipei, illustrated in Catalogue of the Special Exhibition of K’ang-hsi, Yung-cheng and Ch’ien-lung Porcelain Ware from the Ch’ing Dynasty in the National Palace Museum, Taipei, 1986, p. 93, no. 62. A teadust-glazed Yongzheng-marked example in the Nanjing Museum is published in The Official Kiln Porcelain of the Qing Dynasty, Shanghai, 2003, p. 206. Another example in the Musée Guimet, Paris, is illustrated in Oriental Ceramics: The World’s Great Collections, vol. 7, Tokyo, 1981, no. 47. A further Yongzheng-marked vessel with a flambé glaze, in the National Museum of China, Beijing, is illustrated in Zhongguo guojia bowuguan guancang wenwu yanjiu congshu: ciqi juan – Qing dai, Shanghai, 2007, p. 95, no. 61.