Page 104 - 2019 September 11th Sotheby's Important Chinese Art

664
A FAMILLE-ROSE ‘FLORAL’ VASE
QIANLONG SEAL MARK AND PERIOD
the ovoid body resting on a splayed foot
and rising to a tall cylindrical neck flaring
at the rim, brightly enameled allover with a
twisting tree branch and tangled stems of
lush flowers growing amidst pierced sapphire-
blue rockwork, including blooms of hibiscus,
chrysanthemum, and lingzhi-shaped coxcomb,
the spindly tree branches extending across the
shoulders, all on a plain ground, the rim gilt, the
interior and recessed base turquoise-enameled,
the latter with a six-character seal mark in iron
red
Height 17 in., 43.3 cm
A vase of similar shape and subject matter,
enameled with birds and a plain turquoise
base, attributed to the Qianlong period, sold
in our London rooms, 19th June 2002, lot
49. See a slightly smaller meiping depicting a
similar scene, with a four-character iron-red
seal mark, sold twice in our Hong Kong rooms:
12th May 1976, lot 280, and 18th May 1988,
lot 277. A bottle vase formerly in the collection
of the Cleveland Museum of Art, enameled
with a pheasant and an iron-red seal mark on
the base, sold in these rooms 8th November
1980, lot 215, and again in our Hong Kong
rooms, 20th May 1987, lot 556. See also a vase
of similar form attributed to the Yongzheng/
Qianlong period, with the branches extending
down the foot, sold twice in our Hong Kong
rooms: 14th November 1989, lot 266, and 29th
October 2001, lot 604.
For a bottle vase with peonies and an
underglaze-blue mark, see one illustrated in The
Complete Collection of Treasures of the Palace
Museum: Porcelains with Cloisonne Enamel
Decoration and Famille-Rose Decoration, vol.
39, Hong Kong, 1999, pl. 89. Additionally, a
box illustrated in ibid., pl. 99 has a cover with
flowers enameled in a similar manner to the
present.
$ 20,000-30,000

清乾隆 粉彩花卉圖瓶
《大清乾隆年製》款

102 SOTHEBY’S IMPORTANT CHINESE ART