Page 170 - Sotheby's Speelman Collection Oct. 3, 2018

3443

A RARE CANTON ENAMEL 清乾隆

‘EUROPEAN SUBJECT’ 廣東銅胎畫琺瑯西洋人物蒜頭瓶
GARLIC-MOUTH BOTTLE 《大清乾隆年製》款

VASE
SEAL MARK AND PERIOD OF

QIANLONG

cast with a globular body tapering to a tall slender waisted
neck with a garlic-head mouth and short mouth-rim, all
supported on a short slightly splayed foot, the globular lower
body decorated with two shaped cartouches, each enclosing
a scene of five European figures, all against floral scrolls
against a yellow ground above an upright lappet border, the
neck enamelled with a pair of soaring dragons above a ‘honey-
comb’ frieze, all between bands of angular scrollwork and
keyfret encircling the rim and foot, the white base inscribed in
blue with a six-character seal mark
18.2 cm, 7⅛ in.
HK$ 1,000,000-1,200,000
US$ 128,000-153,000
The quality of the carefully enamelled scene suggests that Kong, 1987, cat. nos 44 and 46. Compare also a Canton
the vase was created by experienced Chinese artists possibly enamel European-subject vase of begonia form, inscribed with
trained in the Palace Workshop by the Jesuit missionaries the same Qianlong reign mark from the Qing court collection,
who introduced the technique of enamelling on metal to the and still in Beijing, illustrated in The Complete Collection of
court. The scene derives from European mythology. The Treasures of the Palace Museum. Metal-bodied Enamel Ware,
enamelled design is closely related to that on the cartouche Hong Kong, 2002, no. 215.
of the famous Qianlong conjoined porcelain vase in the Eisei A Canton enamel vase of the same size and garlic-neck form,
Bunko collection, illustrated in Sekai Toji Zenshu/Ceramic Art sharing the same decoration on the neck but decorated on the
of the World, vol. 15: Ch’ing dynasty, Tokyo, 1983, pp. 102-3, body with a continuous scene of insect flowers and inscribed
nos 112-3.
with a Qianlong yujian zhi bao mark, was included in the
For other Canton enamel European-subject vases of this exhibition Chinese Painted Enamels, Ashmolean Museum,
quality bearing the same unusual Qianlong seal mark, see Oxford, 1978, no. 45, and sold in our London rooms, 2nd
those included in the exhibition Tributes from Guangdong to December 1997, lot 55.
the Qing Court, The Chinese University of Hong Kong, Hong

Mark

168 SOTHEBY’S 蘇富比