Page 35 - CHINA 5000 YEARS my 26 27 2021 HK

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A RARE AND LARGE PAIR OF FAMILLE-ROSE 清乾隆
VASES 粉彩豆青地凸雕暗八仙開光人物故事圖
SEAL MARKS AND PERIOD OF QIANLONG
70.5 cm 螭耳大瓶一對
《大清乾隆年製》款
HK$ 1,000,000-1,500,000
US$ 129,000-194,000

This sumptuous pair of vases is a striking display of the
virtuosity demonstrated by the craftsmen working during the
Qianlong period in both its massive size and decoration. It
seamlessly combines scenes of historical themes with complex
and contemporary decorative techniques to result in a piece
that celebrates both history and innovation. Such vessels are
marvels of the Qianlong period, of which only a small group
was produced, and represent the Qianlong Emperor’s taste
which increasingly gravitated towards artistically intricate
porcelain designs.
One recessed panel depicts the story of Liu Bei’s three visits
to the thatched cottage. The story originates from the famous
14th-century novel Sanguo Yanyi (The Romance of the Three
Kingdoms) attributed to Luo Guanzhong. This scene in
particular appears to be depicting the first visit where Liu Bei
and his comrades Guan Yu and Zhang Fei are turned away by
Zhuge Liang’s servant. Informed by historical events, the story
takes place in the 3rd-century during the turbulent years at the
end of the Han Dynasty. The part-factual, part-mythological
story chronicles the lives of feudal lords and their retainers,
who vied for the mandate to rule and reunify the country.
Themes of a kingdom divided and of conquest strategy would
have had a wide appeal in the early Qing dynasty.
The other panel depicts the Seven Sages of the Bamboo
Grove enjoying music, arts, and unspoiled nature in a garden.
The sages were literary recluses of the 3rd century, who
regularly met in a bamboo grove to drink wine and discuss
arts and literature. By rejecting an official career, they came
to represent a social movement that advocated individual
freedom, self-expression and the Daoist ideology of harmony
with nature.
Qianlong potters were masters at combining historical scenes
with a myriad of decorative techniques to create ever new
designs. The vases are lavishly adorned with relief white slip-
decorated bats and ruyi clouds, iron-red and gilt bajixiang (Eight
Buddhist Emblems), scattered with ball flowers and flower
sprigs in bright enamels, all on a pale celadon ground and
flanked by a pair of pink-enamelled stylised dragon handles.
Only a small number of close counterparts of such large size
and calibre has been published, including another nearly
identical vase but on a coral and gold ground, formerly in
the collection of the Empress Eugénie and now in the Palace
of Fontainebleau collection, illustrated in Le Musée chinois
de l’impératrice Eugénie, Musée National du Château de
Fontainebleau, 1986, figs 16-17, where it is shown on top of
a large display cabinet. See also an identical vase sold at
Christie’s New York, Marchant: Nine Decades in Chinese Art,
14th September 2017, lot 748.
For other unmarked vases with similar decorative design
- white-slip bats and clouds, bajixiang on a celadon ground
- see John Ayres, Chinese and Japanese Works of Art in the
Collection of Her Majesty the Queen, London, vol. 2, pl. 1313;
and another sold in these rooms, 8th April 2010, lot 1949.

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