Page 68 - Sothebys Fine Chinese Art London, November 2018

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PROPERTY OF A EUROPEAN LADY
This exquisitely enamelled vase is an extremely rare example
A VERY RARE SMALL PINK-GROUND of Jiaqing marked painted enamel. It is likely to have been
BEIJING ENAMEL BOTTLE VASE produced in the early years of his reign, during the years of the
Qianlong Emperor’s abdication in 1796 and his death in 1799
JIAQING MARK AND PERIOD when he still retained authority over the imperial workshops
in the Forbidden City. The small proportions of the vase and
the rounded sides rising from a short splayed foot to a complex yet harmonious design and intricate details of the
long slender neck, vibrantly and intricately painted to the flower petals, all rendered in vibrant colours against a pink
exterior with elaborate multi-coloured lotus blooms borne on ground, reflect the mastery of the craftsmen in producing
meandering foliage scrolls connected with smaller buds, the unique pieces according to the Emperor’s taste.
shoulders detailed with a border of mallow flowers across The fine enamelling and exceptional quality of the vase attests
vertical plantain leaves, the neck decorated with similar to it being the product of the Enamel Workshop that was
stylised lotus scrolls below a ruyi-shaped border at the rim, in charge of producing cloisonné, champlevé and painted
with a further foliate border at the foot, reserved on a rich enamel wares on metal, glass and porcelain for the emperor
pink ground, all between gilt at the rim and foot, the interior and his family. Located in the Forbidden City, the workshops
enamelled turquoise, the white base inscribed with a four- employed artists of the highest skills who manufactured daily
character mark within a square in red wares as well as one-off, often unconventional, pieces that
10.5 cm, 4⅛ in.
were frequently commissioned by the emperor himself. The
£ 150,000-250,000 technique of enamelling on metal was originally introduced
HK$ 1,520,000-2,540,000 US$ 194,000-323,000 to the Chinese craftsmen in the Guangzhou area by Jesuit
missionaries around 1684. Being a port city, these artisans
were the first to be exposed to wares from Europe and had
清嘉慶 御製北京銅胎畫琺瑯粉地番蓮紋箸瓶
mastered the technical skills necessary.
《嘉慶年製》款
In style this vase epitomises the fusion of the West with
East. The subject of a foliate peony and lotus scroll between
stiff leaves and lappets is typically Chinese; however in their
rendering they are inspired by the Western rococo style.
Leaves take on the form of acanthus leaves and the innovative
colour palette mirrors the sumptuous taste of French
decorative arts of the late eighteenth century.
The small proportions of this vase suggest it was made as a
miniature for a curio box. Boxes made to house small carefully
collected antiquities were greatly favoured by the Qianlong
Mark Emperor. According to the catalogue to the exhibition Lord
Jiaqing and the Journey to Taiwan: A Special Exhibition on
Cultural Artifacts of the Qing Emperor Renzong, National
Palace Museum, Taipei, 2016, p. 242, curios from Qianlong
boxes appear to have been reorganised and continued to be
appreciated in the Jiaqing reign.

66 SOTHEBY’S