The art of painting enamels on metal was brought to the Imperial court during Kangxi's reign by Jesuit missionaries who probably also supervised the workshops where early experimental work was being carried out. A number of splendid examples of enamel-on-copper vessels have survived from this early period of production, variously bearing Kangxi and Yongzheng marks, or painted during the Qianlong period in a style rather close to these earlier wares. See for example Moss, op. cit., p. 49, who argues that the decorative tradition of the Kangxi yuzhi wares lasted into the Qianlong reign during which time the art of painting enamels on metal flourished. He compares the present lot to a vase of identical shape and design but with a four-character Kangxi yuzhi mark in the National Palace Museum, Taibei, included in the Museum's Special Exhibition of Enamelled Painted Ware of the Ch'ing Dynasty, 1979, Catalogue, no. 126. This vase is illustrated again in the Museum's exhibition of Enamel Ware in the Ming and Qing Dynasties, 1999, Catalogue, no. 88. It is possible that the present lot was made as a companion piece to this Kangxi example in Taibei.

Another yellow-ground Qianlong-marked zhadou vessel, in the National Palace Museum, Taibei, relates to the present lot, although painted with different flowers, illustrated loc. cit., no. 138. The style of decoration is also clearly related to Kangxi-marked porcelain bowls with evenly spaced stylised flower heads in alternating colours, such as the examples in the Palace Museum, Beijing; see Kangxi, Yongzheng, Qianlong, p. 100, no. 83, for a yellow-ground bowl with multi-coloured blooms, and p. 102, no. 85, for a blue-ground bowl with a more closely related design.

(US$77,000-100,000)