18TH CENTURY

This large vase has features similar to a comparably large vase (72.8 cm.) sold at Sotheby's London, November 2009, lot 149. Both have archaistic and lotus decoration and a pair of gilt-bronze phoenix-form handles, but the latter vase is hexagonal. See, also, the related smaller (43 cm.) vase in the Qing Court Collection, Beijing, illustrated in The Complete Collection of Treasures of the Palace Museum - 43 - Metal-bodied Enamel Ware, Hong Kong, 2002, p. 151, pl. 143, which also has gilt-bronze taotie and loose ring handles applied to the body and a pair of phoenix-form handles applied to the neck. Another very similar vase is in the George Walter Vincent Smith Art Museum, Springfield, Massachussetts.