A VERY RARE AND FINE GILT AND SILVER-DECORATED CELADON-GROUND VASE - UNDERGLAZE-BLUE QIANLONG SIX-CHARACTER SEALMARK AND OF THE PERIOD (1736-95)

Of slender baluster shape with gilt animal handles to the waisted neck, the moulded body with florets and delicate scrolling designs between bands of ruyi to the shoulder, lappets to the spreading foot and hanging pendants below the mouth rim, covered overall in an attractive light celadon glaze. 5 3/8 in. (13.6 cm.) high - Estimate: £7,000 - £9,000 ($13,839 - $17,793)

Provenance:  The Général Omer Blot Collection

Notes: The elegant combination of pale celadon glaze with overglaze gold and silver is rare, and the current vase additionally shows the influence of European style in both form and decoration. The decoration in this case is rather refined, and perfectly complements the form of the vase.

Somewhat more heavy-handed use of overglaze gold on a pale celadon glaze can be seen on a vase in the collection of the National Palace Museum, Taipei, and on two other vessels in the Palace Museum, Beijing. The Taipei example is dated to the Qianlong period and of comparable baluster shape to the present lot with two handles. It is decorated in gilt with archaistic dragon scrolls encircling shou characters (illustrated in the exhibition catalogue Good Fortune, Long Life, Health, and Peace: A Special Exhibition of Porcelains with Auspicious Designs, National Palace Museum, Taipei, 1995, no. 25, p. 99). Floral scrolls have been applied to the celadon glazed exterior of a Kangxi lobed brush-washer (illustrated in Gugong Bowuyuan cang, Qingdai yuyao ciqi, juan 1, Forbidden City Publishing, Beijing, 2006, pp. 300-301, no. 110). Representational gold details have been added to a pale celadon glazed archaistic Qianlong bird and vase group (illustrated in The Complete Collection of Treasures of the Palace Museum - 37 - Monochrome Porcelain, Commercial Press, Hong Kong, 1999, p. 157, no. 142). On the current vase the use of the gold and silver is quite restrained and more of the glaze has been left undecorated, achieving a greater delicacy.

Christie's London. FINE CHINESE CERAMICS AND WORKS OF ART INCLUDING EXPORT ART. 13 May 2008