Page 21 - Sotheby's YAMANAK Vase Oct. 3, 2018

fig. 7
Yangcai reticulated ‘floral and landscape’ vase, seal mark
and period of Qianlong
© Collection of the National Palace Museum, Taipei

when it was hammered down at the world record price of £ medallions without relief carving, and with floral designs on
43 million (£ 51.6 million with commission). The sale was, a ruby-red rather than a yellow ground (see Liao Pao Show,
however, rescinded and the vase was sold two years later by op.cit., cat. no. 69, where one of the vases is illustrated). This
Bonhams via private treaty. That vase was then believed to be pair is known to have been on display in the Shouhuangdian
unique. It is identical to the present piece except for its reign (‘Hall of Imperial Longevity’), a building complex on the north
mark, which is inscribed in the more common underglaze-blue side of Jingshan (‘Coal Hill’), north of the Forbidden City and
seal characters. aligned with its central axis, where the emperors performed
ancestral rites (see also The All Complete Qianlong: The
On our vase, the reign mark is inscribed in a highly unusual
form, as a six-character blue enamel mark enclosed in a Aesthetic Tastes of the Qing Emperor Gaozong, Taipei, 2013,
double square. Blue enamel marks on yangcai generally are pl. II-3.32, where the same vase is illustrated again; fig. 7).
composed of four characters only, similarly enclosed in a The National Palace Museum also owns three pear-shaped
double square. Although extremely rare, the present mark is vases with similar ‘Longquan’ openwork with gilding, also
not unique, but is also found, equally painted in blue enamel combined with formal designs on a puce sgraffiato ground,
on a turquoise enamelled base, for example, on a pair of vases a pair originally on display in the Duanningdian, and a single
painted with boys, one in the National Palace Museum, Taipei, one in the Yangxindian inside the Forbidden City (one of the
and one in the Palace Museum, Beijing (see Qing gongzhong former illustrated in Liao Pao Show, op.cit., cat. no. 68).
falangcai ci tezhan/Special Exhibition of Ch’ing Dynasty With its cornucopia of colours, motifs, styles and techniques,
Enamelled Porcelains of the Imperial Ateliers, National this vessel seems tailor-made for the Qianlong Emperor’s
Palace Museum, Taipei, 1992, cat. no. 146; and The Complete taste. With its references to archaic ritual bronzes, a
Collection of Treasures of the Palace Museum. Porcelains with philosophy developed in the Bronze Age, Northern Song
Cloisonne Enamel Decoration and Famille Rose Decoration, painting, Southern Song ceramics, and Ming porcelain, this
Hong Kong, 1999, pl. 91).
vase endorsed the Manchu dynasty’s rule as being firmly
The history of the present vase in the West goes back more anchored in China’s cultural tradition and on a par with its
than a century, as it was already exhibited for sale in New York glorious past. With its adaptation of Western rocaille motifs,
at the beginning of the 20th century (figs 5 and 6). It has now it documented this Emperor’s interest in progress and
been in the collection of the same family for nearly a century. openness to ideas from abroad, which the Kangxi Emperor
This vase and its pair are unique in design, but a closely had initiated. And with its auspicious motifs, without which
related pair of vases is in the National Palace Museum, Taipei, imperial porcelain design would have been unthinkable
of the same form, with identical ‘Longquan’ openwork design, since the reign of the Yongzheng Emperor (r. 1723-1735), it
but lacking the gilding and surrounding four painted landscape honoured his father’s inclinations.

THE YAMANAKA RETICULATED VASE 19