Page 183 - Sothebys Speelman Gems of Chinese Art

The present gu-form vase is closely related to a vessel in the Century, The Chinese Porcelain Company, New York, 1993,
National Palace Museum, Taipei, illustrated in Enamel Ware cat. no. 12. This bowl is identified as having been made in
in the Ming and Ch’ing Dynasties, Taipei, 1999, pl. 140, of Guangzhou. Furthermore, it is also proposed that the bowl
the same form and painted floret decoration but of much and other vessels painted with a similar design may have
larger size. Similar floret motifs can be seen on a painted originated from the same workshop and were most likely
enamel yu vessel with loop handles included ibid., pl. 139; on made for the court as tribute items.
three large vases, from the Qing Court collection and now in
The colourful floret medallion motif first appeared during
the Palace Museum, Beijing, published in Zhongguo jin yin
the Yongzheng period and became especially popular by the
boli falangqi quanji, falanqi (II) [Complete works of Chinese
Qianlong reign. See a Yongzheng globular vase illustrated in
gold, silver, glass and enamelware: Enamelware (II)], vol.
Kangxi. Yongzheng. Qianlong. Qing Porcelain from the Palace
6, Shijiazhuang, 2002, pls 158-160; and on a loop-handled
Museum Collection, Hong Kong, 1989, pl. 45; and a bowl
teapot illustrated in The Complete Collection of Treasures
sold at Christie’s Hong Kong, 31st October 2000, lot 912. For
of the Palace Museum. Metal-bodied Enamel Ware, Hong
Qianlong examples, see a globular jar sold in our rooms, 1st
Kong, 2002, pl. 199. Compare also the decoration found on a
May 2001, lot 562.
Qianlong mark and period enamel foliate bowl and cover sold
in our New York rooms, 26th November 1991, lot 397. A pair For examples of painted enamel gu-form vessels see a pair
of globular ewers in the National Palace Museum, Taipei, with sold at Christie’s London, 8th November 2005, lot 61; and
similar decoration, but unmarked, is published in Liu Liang- another, with a Qianlong four-character mark in red on its
yin, Chinese Enamel ware, Its History, Authentication and base, sold in these rooms, 30th November 1980, lot 585.
Conservation, Taipei, 1978, p. 74 (top).
A painted enamel bowl with a very similar design and with
a Qianlong four-character mark in red enamel was included
in the exhibition Chinese Painted Enamels of the Eighteenth

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