A RARE IMPERIAL CLOISONNE ENAMEL ‘ELEPHANT HANDLE’ VASE

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PROPERTY FROM THE SPRINGFIELD MUSEUMS, SOLD TO SUPPORT ART ACQUISITIONS AND COLLECTIONS CARE

A RARE IMPERIAL CLOISONNE ENAMEL ‘ELEPHANT HANDLE’ VASE

QIANLONG PERIOD (1736-1795)

Details

A RARE IMPERIAL CLOISONNE ENAMEL ‘ELEPHANT HANDLE’ VASE
QIANLONG PERIOD (1736-1795)
The body is decorated with a diaper ground comprising honeycombs enclosing florettes and wan emblems underneath a row of pink petals, between two raised bands of ruyi-heads enclosing lotus sprays. The neck is colourfully decorated with upright plantain leaves between butterflies and floral roundels, flanked by a pair of gilt-metal elephant-head handles cast in high relief. The gilt base is cast with a raised flowerhead.
14 15/16 in. (38 cm.) high

Provenance

George Walter Vincent Smith (1832-1923), Springfield, Massachusetts, acquired prior to 1910

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Lot Essay

A larger vase (61 cm.) of very similar form and design, also with gilt elephant handles and raised collars on the shoulder and foot, but with less well-preserved enamels, is in the Palace Museum Collection, illustrated in Compendium of Collections in the Palace Museum – Enamels, vol. 3, no. 111 (fig. 1).

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