Page 90 - Bonhams September 10 2018 New York Chinese Works of Art

PROPERTY OF A SOUTH AMERICAN COLLECTOR
125
A RARE AND UNUSUAL PAIR OF CLOISONNE RHOMBUS-
SHAPED VASES
Jiaqing/Daoguang period
Each of lozenge section, made in the mirror image of the other, the
rectangular sides each delicately enameled with a vignette of flowers
in an elegant and richly decorated vase flanked by archaic bronze
vessels and other antiques, arranged with scholar’s implements,
auspicious objects and fruit, all against a wan fret ground, enclosed
by key fret borders and separated by raised dentil-notched flanges
set at the corners, all beneath a neck decorated with elaborate
Buddhist canopies suspending chimes and tassels below a galleried
rim, inscribed in cursive script Recuerdo á Elena Smith de Gomez
Diciembre 5 de 1885, all supported on a pedestal foot decorated
with leaping carp against churning waves, the gilded foot impressed
with two-character relief mark Decheng.
14 1/2in (36.8cm) high
inscription on the lip of one
$30,000 - 50,000
清嘉慶 掐絲琺瑯花卉博古圖菱形瓶一對 《德成》款

According to Bèatrice Quette (ed.) in Cloisonné: Chinese Enamels
from the Yuan, Ming and Qing Dynasties, Bard Graduate Center,
New York, 2011, p. 167, the production of enamels by the Imperial
Manufactures decreased after the Jiaqing period, and the finest
surviving cloisonne objects of this period exhibit marks of official and
private organizations and workshops, with Dechang being one of
them.

The workmanship on these pair of vases is exceptionally fine. There
are hardly any bubbles in the enamels or spilling over of colors, and
the wirework is exquisite. Each of the vases and bronze vessels
decorating the sides are rendered in great detail, and all the flowers
and fruit are so realistically portrayed as to be easily identifiable.
The level of skill exhibited on this pair of vases is reminiscent of that
seen on one side of a Qianlong period two-sided cloisonne panel mark on one
sensitively depicting narcissus, nandina and plum blossoms against a
wan fret ground, illustrated op. cit., fig. 7.23, p. 142. The similar level
of quality on the present lot would therefore suggest an early 19th
century date. Furthermore, the rims of the present lot are inscribed
with the year 1885, indicating that the vases were produced prior to
that date.

Other cloisonne pieces with similar Decheng marks are in the George
Walter Vincent Smith Art Museum, Springfield, MA, dated 19th
century, and the Phoenix Art Museum, AZ, dated Guangxu period,
illustrated op.cit., no. 146, p. 299 and no.147, p. 300 respectively.
The latter example came with a note indicating that the Dechang
name was so well-known by that time that copies bearing the
Decheng name were circulating during the Guangxu period, op. cit.,
fig. 2.21, p. 28.

Further examples of Decheng cloisonne have sold at Christie’s, New
York; 18 September 2014, lot 651, and 20 October 2004, lots 445
and 446.

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