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Lot Essay
The vase has an elegantly curved profile, painted on the exterior with a rising sun amidst a pair of bats, and two elderly figures standing beneath a pine tree; one wearing a floral headdress and white fur cape, carrying a hoe over his shoulder from which hangs a basket full of lingzhi, flowers and a double gourd; the other holding a ruyi sceptre, accompanied by a crane. Together, these decorative motifs convey auspicious wishes for health, longevity and prosperity.
This vase is masterfully painted with a continuous scene rendered with great skill and making excellent use of the newly developed yangcai palette, most notably the pink and white enamels. The three-column mark on the current vase, stylistically similar to the three-line marks seen on late Kangxi porcelains, suggests that it was likely made at the imperial kilns during the early Yongzheng period. The thick application of enamels, particularly on the opaque white fur cape, combined with carved details, vividly recreates the texture of the garment. Such superb level of painting is so rarely seen, even for Yongzheng porcelains, that no other examples appear to be known, making this exceptional piece possibly unique.
The theme of ‘harvesting lingzhi‘ is highly unusual amongst Yongzheng-period porcelains. A famille rose meiping decorated with similar subject, bearing a six-character mark in three columns within a single circle, is illustrated in The Complete Collection of Treasures of the Palace Museum: Porcelains with Cloisonné Enamel Decoration and Famille Rose Decoration, vol. 39, Hong Kong, 1999, p. 60, pl. 50 (fig.1). This theme is relatively more common in contemporaneous paintings, such as a hanging scroll in the Palace Museum Collection, Beijing, Yongzheng guzhuang xingletu (Yongzheng Emperor Enjoying a Leisurely Day in Classical Costume), illustrated in Splendors of a Flourishing Age: Paintings and Antiques of the Kangxi, Yongzheng and Qianlong Reigns from the Forbidden City, Maco, 2000, pl. 14 (fig.2).
This vase is masterfully painted with a continuous scene rendered with great skill and making excellent use of the newly developed yangcai palette, most notably the pink and white enamels. The three-column mark on the current vase, stylistically similar to the three-line marks seen on late Kangxi porcelains, suggests that it was likely made at the imperial kilns during the early Yongzheng period. The thick application of enamels, particularly on the opaque white fur cape, combined with carved details, vividly recreates the texture of the garment. Such superb level of painting is so rarely seen, even for Yongzheng porcelains, that no other examples appear to be known, making this exceptional piece possibly unique.
The theme of ‘harvesting lingzhi‘ is highly unusual amongst Yongzheng-period porcelains. A famille rose meiping decorated with similar subject, bearing a six-character mark in three columns within a single circle, is illustrated in The Complete Collection of Treasures of the Palace Museum: Porcelains with Cloisonné Enamel Decoration and Famille Rose Decoration, vol. 39, Hong Kong, 1999, p. 60, pl. 50 (fig.1). This theme is relatively more common in contemporaneous paintings, such as a hanging scroll in the Palace Museum Collection, Beijing, Yongzheng guzhuang xingletu (Yongzheng Emperor Enjoying a Leisurely Day in Classical Costume), illustrated in Splendors of a Flourishing Age: Paintings and Antiques of the Kangxi, Yongzheng and Qianlong Reigns from the Forbidden City, Maco, 2000, pl. 14 (fig.2).