Lot Essay
The gourd and butterflies constitute a rebus for "numerous descendants".
Cf. a much smaller vase of very similar style in the Beijing Palace Museum illustrated in Zhongguo Meishu Quanji, Works of Art Series, vol. 10, Gold, Silver, Glass and Enamels, pl. 342. This bears a Qianlong seal mark and the author notes that this vase is a product of the Yangxindian Palace workshop. This much smaller vase has a stippled ground with looser groud vines, and the reserve panels are painted with only a floral spray and a single butterfly unlike the very full treatment of the present lot.
Although enamelled vases decorated with this design of scrolling gourds and butterflies are very rare, several examples in porcelain have been published. Cf. a Qianlong famille rose meiping in the Shanghai Museum, illustrated in Chugoku Toji Zenshu, vol. 21, col. pl. 125; and a large celadon-ground famille rose oviform vase sold in our London Rooms, 6 June 1988, lot 103; and cafe-au-lait ground oviform vase sold in these Rooms, 23 March 1993, lot 757.
Cf. a much smaller vase of very similar style in the Beijing Palace Museum illustrated in Zhongguo Meishu Quanji, Works of Art Series, vol. 10, Gold, Silver, Glass and Enamels, pl. 342. This bears a Qianlong seal mark and the author notes that this vase is a product of the Yangxindian Palace workshop. This much smaller vase has a stippled ground with looser groud vines, and the reserve panels are painted with only a floral spray and a single butterfly unlike the very full treatment of the present lot.
Although enamelled vases decorated with this design of scrolling gourds and butterflies are very rare, several examples in porcelain have been published. Cf. a Qianlong famille rose meiping in the Shanghai Museum, illustrated in Chugoku Toji Zenshu, vol. 21, col. pl. 125; and a large celadon-ground famille rose oviform vase sold in our London Rooms, 6 June 1988, lot 103; and cafe-au-lait ground oviform vase sold in these Rooms, 23 March 1993, lot 757.