Page 211 - Bonhams, Roger Keverne Moving on Part 1 May 11, 2021 London

This cloisonné fang gu is exceptional for its refined
and rare predominant design of double phoenix on
each side, above triple bands of taotie masks and
plantain leaves. For another example with a primary
phoenix motif; see a cloisonné enamel incense
burner, ding, Qianlong mark and period, illustrated in
Compendium of Collections in the Palace Museum:
Enamels 2, Beijing, 2011, pl.201. Compare also
a related but less refined and smaller cloisonné
enamel fang gu, with phoenix on the neck and foot
and taotie masks around the centre, 17th/18th
century, illustrated by Sir H.Garner, Chinese and
Japanese Cloisonné Enamels, London, 1962, pl.52.

The form and design of the present lot are in line
with the Qianlong emperor’s wishes for craftsmen
to take inspiration from antiquity, in order to ‘restore
the ancient ways’, reinstating the intrinsic qualities
of simplicity, sincerity and happy exuberance
of the ancient cultures. For this purpose the
emperor instructed the Court to collect drawings
of antiquities, such as the ‘Catalogue of Xiqing
Antiquities’ (Xi Qing Gu Jian 西清古鑑), which served
as sources of designs for the production of vessels.
Compare three related archaistic cloisonné enamel
and gilt-bronze vases, fang gu, Qianlong mark and
of the period, illustrated in ibid., pls.143, 146-147.

A related cloisonné enamel and gilt-bronze vase,
gu, Qianlong mark and of the period, was sold at
Christie’s Paris, 7 June 2011, lot 208.

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