Page 156 - Bonhams Fine Chinese Ceramics and Works of Art, Nov 2014 Hong Kong

The rich complexity and elegance of the enamel decoration on the
present vase is a familiar marker of the imperial style that reached
its height during the reign of the Qianlong emperor. To fill the space
with perfectly balanced and harmonious scrolls and decorative motifs
represents a significant challenge to even the most highly skilled
craftsman, and porcelain pieces of this type were treasured within
the Imperial collections. See for example, several vases with similarly
elegant scrollwork on a coloured enamelled ground from the Qing
Court Collection illustrated in The Complete Collection of Treasures of
the Palace Museum: Porcelain with Cloisonné Enamel Decoration and
Famille Rose Decoration, Hong Kong, 1999, nos.112, 118 and 123.

The green-ground vase illustrated in The Complete Collection of
Treasures of the Palace Museum: Porcelain with Cloisonné Enamel
Decoration and Famille Rose Decoration, Hong Kong, 1999, no.123
also shows the motif of the bat suspending the double-fish, which
is also depicted on the present lot. The bat, 蝠 fu, is homophonous
with wealth, 福 fu, while the double-fish, 雙魚 shuangyu, symbolise
conjugal bliss and fertility, since they are believed to swim in pairs, and
it is also renowned as one of the Eight Buddhist Symbols. Together
with the gilt shou character representing longevity, the enamelling
on the present lot shows an intricate but playfully harmonious
interweaving of auspicious symbols.

The shape of the present vase is exceptionally rare. However, Geng
Baochang illustrates a vase of related rectangular section in Ming Qing
Ciqi Jianding, Hong Kong, 1993, p.262, no.18, as well as various
rounded vases with related shoulder lines: Ming Qing Ciqi Jianding,
Hong Kong, 1993, p.268, nos.3, 12 and 17.

瓶方直口，豐肩，肩部以下腹部內斂，方足。壺頸兩側塑螭龍耳，飾
珊瑚紅釉並加以金彩。瓶身以綠松釉為地色，並以粉彩飾纏枝蓮紋、
蝙蝠銜雙魚紋及蝙蝠銜壽紋，寓意「吉慶有餘」及「福壽雙全」。瓶
底礬紅書「大清乾隆年製」篆書款。

乾隆時期粉彩工藝有獨特表現，出現用不同超過是多種地色裝飾的粉
彩御用瓷，大大超出了前朝的種類範圍。此瓶以綠松石釉為地色，風
格華麗。清宮舊藏中亦有多例紋飾類似但以不同地色裝飾御用瓷器，
其中一件粉彩綠地開光花卉詩句瓶上亦有蝙蝠雙魚紋飾，可資比較，
見《故宮博物院藏文物珍品大系：琺瑯彩，粉彩》，香港，1999年，
圖112，118及123。

此形制在傳世品中較為稀有，耿寶昌在其《明清瓷器鑑定》中曾有例
舉乾隆時期類似形制的官窯瓷器，相見同著錄，香港，1993年，頁
262圖18及頁268圖3、12及17。

154 | Bonhams