Page 235 - Sothebys HK Dragon Emperor April 2024

□ 3673 SOLD WITHOUT RESERVE

A RARE MOULDED GOURD BOTTLE VASE, 清乾隆 匏製卷草紋瓶
SHANGWAN MARK AND PERIOD OF QIANLONG 《乾隆賞玩》款
inscribed with a four-character Qianlong shangwan reign
mark (‘appreciated by the Qianlong Emperor’) 來源：
14.1 cm Paul Ragnar Wedendal（1924-2010年）收藏，1972年獲
贈之壽禮
PROVENANCE 史博曼收藏
Collection of Paul Ragnar Wedendal (1924-2010), given as a 香港蘇富比2018年4月3日，編號3411
birthday present in 1972.
Speelman Collection.
Sotheby’s Hong Kong, 3rd April 2018, lot 3411.
HK$ 300,000-500,000
US$ 38,400-64,000

Appreciated by the court and literati for its humble origin and
association with the symbolism of Daoist paradise, gourd
objects have a long tradition in Chinese history. During the
Kangxi period, the technique of gourd moulding flourished
with the Emperor’s commissioning of such vessels to be
crafted in the Palace Workshop. Immediately, this folk art
was transformed into an imperial art form. Even the gourds
to be used for such vessels were grown in the Fengze
Garden opposite the Forbidden City. It again experienced a
revival under the Qianlong Emperor, the products of which
were characteristically light to the touch, pleasing to the
eye and evocative of nature. The mark Qianlong shangwan
(‘appreciated by the Qianlong Emperor’) appears to have
been reserved for an exclusive group of gourd vessels
commissioned by the Emperor for his personal enjoyment
and collection. According to Wang Shixiang in The Charms
of the Gourd, Hong Kong, 1993, p. 199, the present style of
mark in relief around the spherical body is a very rare type;
see another vase with this mark, published ibid., pl. 20; and
another sold in these rooms, 15th November 1989, lot 497.
Further moulded gourd vessels with a related mark, but on
the base, include an octagonal brushpot, from the Walter
Sedgwick collection, sold twice in our London rooms, 2nd
July 1968, lot 47, and 24th February 1970, lot 106, and a
third time in these rooms, 8th October 2009, lot 1806, from
the Water Pine and Stone Retreat collection; and a double-
gourd vase of square section, from the Water, Pine and
Stone Retreat collection, sold in these rooms, 3rd October
2017, lot 3010.

Mark

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