Page 111 - Bonhams Fine Chinese Art Nov 2013 London

Millefleurs patterns appear to have first decorated wares made For related wares with the millefleurs design, see a vase from the
during the reign of the Kangxi Emperor; see for example an Imperial Grandidier Collection, now in the Musée Guimet, illustrated by
millefleurs glass snuff bottle from the Palace workshops in Beijing M.Beurdeley and G.Raindre, Qing Porcelain - Famille Verte, Famille
illustrated by H.Moss et al., A Treasury of Chinese Snuff Bottles: The Rose, London, 1987, pp.118-9, no.164; and a beaker in the Liaoning
Mary and George Bloch Collection, Vol.6. Part 1, Arts of the Fire Provincial Museum, illustrated in The Complete Works of Chinese
Hong Kong, 2008, no.1062, in which the author notes that this is one Ceramics, Shanghai, 1999-2000, vol.15, no.37. See also a pair of
of the earliest known examples of the millefleurs pattern. small saucer dishes with Yanghetang zhi marks sold at Christie’s
The design is most associated with the Qianlong period, and it is Hong Kong, 30 May 2012, lot 3993.
during this reign that we see some of the finest examples of the
pattern. The complex but delicate pattern was particularly suited to
relatively small wares and can define a distinct group of porcelains,
painted enamels such as the present seal paste box, and ‘miniature’
pieces such as snuff bottles. Compare a similar painted enamel box
and cover, also with a Qianlong mark and of the period, illustrated
in Compendium of Collections in the Palace Museum: Enamels 5,
Beijing, 2011, no.95, and another from the National Palace Museum
Taipei, illustrated in Radiant Luminance: The Painted Enamelware of
the Qing Imperial Court, Taipei, 2012, no.101A.

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