QIANLONG PERIOD (1736-1795)

The shape of this zhadou is quite unusual. Not only are the sides carved as four bracket-lobed petals, but it is of oval section rather than the more usual circular section of most zhadou. The same bracket-lobed sides can be seen on a vase of less compressed zhadou form, which is flanked by two handles suspending rings, illustrated in Zhongguo yuqi quanji, vol. 6, Qing, Hebei, 1991, p. 102, pl. 154. See, also, p. 85, pl. 131, the zhadou with a similarly compressed, but not bracket-lobed, body carved with archaistic decoration. Both of these vessels are in the collection of the Palace Museum, Beijing.