Page 110 - Cambi Milan Asian Art January 22, 2020

This rare and magnificent vase is an extraordinary example of the Imperial porcelain production in the 18th century,
considered to be the golden century of the Celestial Empire and, in particular, of Emperor Qianlong’s reign (1736-1796).

A warrior and an enlightened ruler, Qianlong played an essential role in the development and enhancement of Chinese
culture, as he promoted it not only on the literary level, as proven by the creation of the Complete Library of the
Four Treasures, an extensive anthology that aimed to collect all the works written in the Chinese language up to that
moment, but from an artistic point of view as well.
Indeed, he was a patron of the arts and during the first part of his reign the porcelain production achieved its highest
levels on the qualitative level, thanks to the improvements and refinements introduced by T’ang Ying, who ran the
Imperial workshop, with whom “the clay was white, rich and compact, the structure, whether thick or thin, was shiny
and polished; and Imperial porcelain achieved, in this period, its perfection”
Proof of this is this remarkable vase which, in virtue of its large size and of the detailed Doucai enamel decor, fully
embodies the abundance and magnificence of the Imperial porcelain production of the time.
The Tianqiuping shape, also known as “heavenly globe vase”, is characterised by a strong symbolic connotation, as the
globular body on which the cylindrical neck is grafted, recalls the round shape that, in Chinese iconography, represents
the skies, as opposed to the square symbolising the Earth.
First used during the Ming Dynasty around the 15th century, this shape was widely diffused during the 18th century
within the porcelain production directly tied to the Imperial commissions, as testified by the pieces created during
the Yongzheng period (1723-1735), for the most part in ‘Famille Rose’ hues (Oriental Ceramics, The World’s Great
Collections, vol. 1, Tokyo, 1976, col. pl. 80) and in shades of blue (Blue and White Porcelain with Underglaze Red (III),
The Complete Collection of Treasures of the Palace Museum, vol. 36, Hong Kong, 2000, pp. 96-7, nos. 82 and 83).
In fact, the unique and exceptional nature of this vase relies in its Doucai enamel decor, an expensive and complex
technique, especially when applied to such a large surface. The artist, in addition to having to pay attention during the
firing so as to maintain the vase’s peculiar globular shape, without having it deform or collapse under its own weight,
also had to commit all his skills to applying the enamels, in several subsequent cases depending on the different firing
times and temperatures for each individual colour.
The first key step, where it was crucial to avoid any and all mistakes, consisted in applying a cobalt blue colour directly
onto the raw clay, then covered with a layer of enamel and fired at high temperatures, which acted as a foundation for
the other colours. The rest of the decoration was then completed by the artist by applying the different colours after the
foundation layer had cooled down, following the cobalt blue guidelines, and lastly putting the vase through an additional
firing phase at lower temperatures.
The large size of this extraordinary vase has allowed its decorator to wanter all over a wide surface, which was
exceptionally exploited to create a refined and high-quality decoration. The globular body encircles a series of round-
shaped medallions with naturalistic decors branching off from a central lotus flower, spaced out by thick ramages with
elements recalling the shape of the Ruyi.

The central field is enclosed within a decor of stylised lotus flowers, that runs along the lower edge close to the base,
and a series of clover-shaped reserves placed along the upper part of the globular body, that contain floral subjects,
from which a Ruyi head-shaped pattern descends.
On the shoulder of the vase is a band with stylised archaic motives, from which a spear decor extends along the lower
part of the neck, making way to a band of medallion-shaped floral decors spaced out with racemes.
Along the upper rim of the vase is a double order of decorative patterns in the shape of meanders and Ruyi heads.
A recurring element in the decoration of this exceptional item is the reference to the shape of the Ruyi, a scepter that
symbolises power and, with its rounded ends, recalls the shape of the Lingzhi, the sacred mushroom that according
to the Chinese culture represented longevity and bestowing immortality.
This unique, beautiful vase is probably to be ascribed to the Imperial porcelain production dating back to the early
years of Emperor Qianlong’s reign, as suggested by the delicacy and the use of colour that is typical of the reign
of his predecessor Yongzheng, and by the six-character seal mark in underglaze cobalt blue on the base. In fact,
according to Prof. P.Y.K. Lam, it seems to correspond to the seal mark type called “type 5”, used between the seventh
and the thirtieth year of Qianlong’s reign (P.Y.K. Lam, “Towards a Dating Framework for Qianlong Imperial Porcelain”,
Transactions of the Oriental Ceramic Society, vol. 74, 2009-2010, p. 23).
In addition to the item sold by Christie’s in Hong Kong on 30 May 2018 (lot 8888), there is knowledge of only one other
Tianqiuping vase with Doucai enamel decors from the Qianlong period that is comparable in size to this exquisite piece,
which we find published by the Palace Museum in Beijing in Porcelains in Polychrome and Contrasting Colours, The
Complete Collection of Treasures of the Palace Museum, vol. 38, Hong Kong, 1999, p. 274, no. 251.
In fact, few other examples of vases created during the Qianlong period and decorated with the Doucai enamel
technique are known, but they turn out to be of smaller sizes as compared to the vase in question, as is clearly witnessed
by works such as the large plate decorated with the eight Buddhist symbols that is stored in the Imperial collections
of the Nanjing Museum, which is 48.9cm tall (Qing Imperial Porcelain of the Kangxi, Yongzheng and Qianlong Reigns,
Nanjing, 1995, n. 104) or the 42cm Tianqiuping vase stored in the collections of the Matsuoka Museum of Art in Japan
(Masterpieces of Oriental Ceramics from Matsuoka Museum of Art, Japan, 1997, p. 43, n. 33) or the moon flask from
the Palace Museum in Beijing, which is 3.6 cm smaller (E.S. Rawski and J. Rawson, The Three Emperors 1662-1795,
London, 2005, pp. 294-5, n. 217).

FINE CHINESE WORKS OF ART