Page 120 - CHRISTIE'S Marchant Nine Decades of Chinese Art 09/14/17
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MARCHANT: NINE DECADES IN CHINESE ART
748 AN EXCEPTIONAL RARE AND LARGE A famille rose vase, also of impressively large size (31 in.
FAMILLE ROSE VASE high), dated to the 18th century, Qianlong period, in The
Metropolitan Museum of Art, is illustrated by S. Valenstein,
QIANLONG SIX-CHARACTER SEAL MARK IN IRON RED AND OF A Handbook of Chinese Ceramics, New York, 1975, pl. 168.
THE PERIOD (1736-1795) Like the present vase, it is decorated with fgural scenes
within panels on the body, with further panels on the neck
The vase is decorated on the body with two large recessed fanked by dragon handles. Although the ground on which
panels, one containing a scene from the 14th century novel the panels are reserved is decorated with mille feurs, it can
The Romance of the Three Kingdoms (Sanguo Yanyi) with Liu Bei nevertheless be related to the present vase for its overall effect
and other offcials and attendants approaching a boy opening of rich ornamentation and impressive detail.
a gate while Zhuge Liang sits inside playing the qin. The
panel on the reverse contains a scene of nine elderly scholars The slightly recessed panels of the present vase are very
and three boy attendants on a terrace, enjoying qin music unusual, but they can be compared to panels on Qianlong-
and admiring a scroll painting. The neck is also decorated marked vases in the collection of the Palace Museum,
with two recessed panels, one with lotus fowers and leaves Beijing. See, for example, the vases illustrated in The
and the other with peony and rocks, and is fanked by two Complete Collection of Treasures of the Palace Museum - 39 -
pink-enameled mythical beast-shaped handles. The panels are Porcelains with Cloisonne Enamel Decoration and Famille Rose
surrounded by Buddhist and Daoist emblems decorated in Decoration, Hong Kong, 1999, p. 141, no. 123 and p. 155,
raised slip and blue and iron-red enamels, amid raised-slip bats no. 137, both decorated with lotus blossoms and leaves
and cloud scrolls, and scattered foral sprays and medallions on within a panel in a similar style to one panel on the neck of
a pale celadon ground. The base and the interior are covered the present vase. Compare, also, a massive ruby-ground vase
with pale turquoise enamel. sold at Christie’s New York, 16-17 September 2010,
27æ in. (70.5 cm.) high lot 1420.
$300,000-500,000
PROVENANCE
Important private collection, France.
清乾隆 粉彩豆青地凸雕暗八仙開光人物故
事圖螭耳大瓶 礬紅六字篆書款
(mark)
118
