Page 32 - Chinese Art Paris Auction Christie's December 2017

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RARE VASE EN BRONZE DORE ET
INCRUSTATIONS DE PIERRES DURES
CHINE, DYNASTIE QING,
EPOQUE QIANLONG (1736-1795)
En forme de tronc d’arbre, il est orné de deux pies
perchées sur des branchages tortueux de prunus
en feur et en boutons. Il est entièrement rehaussé
d’incrustations de pierres dures de formes et tailles
diverses ; quelques manques.
Hauteur: 25 cm. (9æ in.)
€50,000-70,000 $59,000-82,000
£45,000-62,000
PROVENANCE
French private collection, acquired in the 1950s in
the French art market.
A RARE HARDSTONE-INLAID GILT-BRONZE
‘PRUNUS AND MAGPIE’ VASE
CHINA, QING DYNASTY,
QIANLONG PERIOD (1736-1795)
清乾隆 鎏金銅嵌寶喜上眉梢式花插
來源：法國私人珍藏，於1950年代購自法國藝
術品市場

This sumptuous vase is a great example of
the ostentatious Imperial style favoured by the
Qianlong emperor with its abundant use of multi-
coloured hardstone inlays on a rich gold surface
embellished with a pair of pies on a prunus tree.
The use of colourful semi-precious stone inlays on
gilt-bronze vessels seems to be particularly popular
in the Qianlong period. It embodies the outstanding
casting and lapidary skills achieved during this
prosperous period with no expense spared in its
opulent production. Most of the known examples
are made as incense burners, such as the censer
made in the form of a luduan in the National Palace
Museum, Taipei, illustrated in A Special Exhibition
of Incense Burners and Perfumers Throughout the
Dynasties, Taipei, 1994, pl. 119, one sold at Christie’s
Hong Kong, 29 November 2005, lot 1584, and
one sold at Christies Paris, 15 June 2005, lot 219.
Another popular form is of two crested birds,
possibly pheasants or phoenixes, centred on what
appears to be a tree trunk with abundant lingzhi
growing on it, such as the example in the Victoria &
Albert Museum, London (inv.no.M.743- 1910).

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