QIANLONG IMPRESSED SIX-CHARACTER SEAL MARK AND OF THE PERIOD (1736-1795)

This vase, decorated with bold designs of luxuriant lotus scrolls, is very rare. Only one closely related example appears to have been published, which is a smaller celadon-glazed vase of similar shape, similarly moulded and carved with scrolling lotus and the base with an underglaze-blue Qianlong seal mark, from the Huaihaitang Collection illustrated in Ethereal Elegance: Porcelain Vases of the Imperial Qing, Hong Kong, 2007, no. 51.

Compare the style of decoration to the unusual celadon-glazed moulded vase in the Baur Collection, which has a similarly impressed Qianlong seal mark, illustrated by John Ayers, Chinese Ceramics in the Baur Collection, vol. 2, Geneva, 1999, pl. 295. The same effect of the contrasting shades of rich green and nearly white along the edges of the moulded elements, can be seen on a covered jar with archaistic designs in the Palace Museum, Beijing, illustrated in The Complete Collection of Treasures of the Palace Museum, Monochrome Porcelain, Hong Kong, 1999, no. 141, where a comparable Qianlong mark is also illustrated.