Page 104 - Fine Chinese Ceramics and Works of Art II

2251 The imagery of foreigners paying tribute to the Imperial Qing court was an
A RARE FAMILLE-ROSE AND PALE CELADON-GLAZED VASE- auspicious theme that was particularly favored by the Qianlong Emperor.
SHAPED SUPPORT WITH EUROPEAN FIGURES Scenes of tribute bearers were successfully enameled on a number of
QIANLONG PERIOD (1736-1795) ceramics such as the Qianlong-marked vase in the National Palace Museum,
Taipei, illustrated in the Special Exhibition of Ch’ing Dynasty Enamelled
The elongated, ovoid support has a ringed neck with everted rim Porcelains of the Imperial Ateliers, Taipei, 1992, p. 275, no. 141. Tribute
that narrows at top to a raised band and the narrow mouth, and is scenes also found popularity in court paintings, such as the anonymous
supported on either side by a kneeling European wearing a tricorn hanging scroll, ‘Envoys from Vassal States and Foreign Countries Presenting
hat, one dressed in an iron-red coat with brown borders and green Tribute to the Emperor’, in the Palace Museum Collection, illustrated in
breeches, the other an iron-red bordered turquoise coat patterned Paintings by Court Artists of the Qing Court, The Complete Collection of the
with black foral sprays and puce breeches. The fat, unglazed base is Treasures of the Palace Museum, Hong Kong, 1996, pp. 240-241, no. 64.
raised slightly above the footrim and has a central aperture. Rarely, objects were made showing Europeans bearing tribute objects. A set
16 in. (40.7 cm.) high of eight ivory and painted fgures of kneeling Europeans, each carrying or
supporting a different Buddhist emblem, was exhibited at the International
$60,000-80,000 Exhibition of Chinese Art at the Royal Academy of Arts in London in 1935-
36 (one was included in the catalogue, no. 2315), six of the set were later
PROVENANCE: owned by Mr. and Mrs. Raf Mottahedeh and illustrated by D. Howard and
J. Ayers in China for the West, vol. 2, pp. 663-65, nos. 688 a-c.
John T. Dorrance, Jr. (1919-1989) Collection; Sotheby’s New York,
20-21 October 1989, lot 400. Vessels such as the present vase, featuring fgural supports modeled as
Private collection, New York. Europeans, are also exceedingly rare. While fgures of European couples,
The Chinese Porcelain Company, New York. which included a similarly dressed gentleman with tricorn hat, were
produced in the Qianlong period for export to Europe, it seems likely that
LITERATURE: the present vase was produced for domestic, if not imperial, use (see W.
Sargent, The Copeland Collection, Chinese and Japanese Figures, Peabody
The Chinese Porcelain Company - A Dealer’s Record 1985-2000, New Museum of Art, 1991, p. 220, no. 106, for a fgural group of a European
York, 2000, p. 185. couple). A rare faux-bois barrel-form jardinière in the Espirito Santo
Collection, Lisbon, features three Europeans similar to those found on the
present vase, and exhibits another instance of European tribute bearers
carrying a Chinese-taste vessel (see M. Beurdeley, China Trade Porcelain,
Rutland, 1962, p. 121, pl. XXII). A vase very similar to the present vase,
with European fgural supports and decorated in famille rose enamels
with auspicious Chinese motifs, and bearing a Qianlong mark, indicating
imperial taste, was sold at Christie’s London, 20 July 1970, lot 79 (Fig. 1).
The present example does differ slightly from the above-mentioned vase in
the treatment of the base, which was deliberately pierced before fring and
features an unusual unglazed, fat, raised ring around the opening. Because
of this construction, and the unusually heavy weight, it appears likely that
it was made as some type of support, or perhaps as a holder for a staff or
banner.

清乾隆 粉彩西洋人物托粉青釉瓶式支柱

(another view of the present lot) Fig. 1. A vase with European fgural supports and
decorated in famille rose enamels, Qianlong mark
102 and period, sold at Christie’s London, 20 July
1970, lot 79.