QIANLONG PERIOD (1736-1795)

The present vase, decorated with predominantly European motifs juxtaposed with Chinese decorative elements, is characteristic of Canton enamel wares made during the 18th century, which are inspired by contemporaneous European enamels and oil paintings. Several Canton enamel wares similarly decorated with European figures or landscapes framed by Rococo-style scrolls have been published, including a Qianlong-marked quatrelobed vase with similar landscape cartouches reserved on a flowerhead-shrewn scrolling ground, in the Qing Court Collection and illustrated in Metal-bodied Enamel Ware, The Complete Collection of Treasures of the Palace Museum, Hong Kong, 2002, no. 215; a baluster vase of similar design, exhibited in Enamels of the World 1700-2000. The Khalili Collection, State Hermitage Museum, St Petersburg, 2009-2010; a pair of Qianlong-marked square vases enamelled with European figures in cartouches, and a pair of Qianlong-marked quatrelobed boxes bearing similar designs, both in the National Palace Museum, and illustrated in Radiant Luminance: The Painted Enamelware of the Qing Imperial Court, Taipei, 2012, figs. 159 and 168.