Page 277 - Important Chinese Art Hong Kong April 2, 2019 Sotheby's

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A CARVED IVORY ‘BOYS’ VASE 清乾隆 象牙雕童子寶瓶
QING DYNASTY, QIANLONG PERIOD
來源：
the tapering sides decorated with a band of Ellice Victor Sassoon 爵士（1881-1961年）
archaistic geometric scrolls above lappets
around the foot and a ruyi band to the 收藏
shoulders, the waisted neck with stiff plantain 倫敦蘇富比2012年5月16日，編號49
leaves flanked by a pair of animal mask handles 出版：
suspending loose rings, carved in high relief S.E. Lucas，《The Catalogue of Sassoon
around the base with four young children
15.3 cm, 6 in. Chinese Ivories》，卷1，倫敦，1950年，
頁689-691，編號492
PROVENANCE
Collection of Sir Ellice Victor Sassoon (1881-
1961).
Sotheby’s London, 16th May 2012, lot 49.
LITERATURE
S.E. Lucas, The Catalogue of Sassoon Chinese
Ivories, vol. I, London, 1950, pp. 689-691, no.
492.
◉ HK$ 400,000-600,000
US$ 51,000-76,500

Vases of this type, with children playing
around an archaistic vase, were a Qianlong
innovation, popular for their auspicious nature.
Depictions of boys are symbolic of the wish for
many offsprings, and on this vase they create
an auspicious visual pun and a rebus for the
phrase zisun ping’an, which can be translated
as ‘peace among sons and grandsons’.
While ivory vases of this type are unusual,
porcelain versions are better known. See for
example a Qianlong mark and period vase
decorated in the famille rose with boys climbing
over the vessel, in the Palace Museum, Beijing,
illustrated in The Complete Collection of
Treasures of the Palace Museum. Porcelains
with Cloisonné Enamel Decoration and Famille
Rose Decoration, Hong Kong, 1999, pl. 140;
another, also in the Palace Museum, Beijing,
included in the exhibition China. The Three
Emperors 1662-1795, The Royal Academy of
Arts, London, 2006, cat. no. 301; and a third
vase, also decorated with flower roundels over a
turquoise ground, from the collection of Marcus
D. Ezekiel, illustrated in R.L. Hobson, The Later
Ceramic Wares of China, London, 1925, pl.
LX, fig. 2, and sold at Christie’s London, 12th
December 1977, lot 211, and again in these
rooms, 29th November 1978, lot 318.