A magnificient turquoise-ground famille-rose vase, seal mark and period of Qianlong. Photo: Sotheby's. 

of baluster form with a waisted base and a generous rounded body sweeping up to a flared rim, flanked by a pair of archaistic dragon handles joined by a broad band in relief collaring the neck, superbly enamelled within gilt outlines against an intense turquoise ground with eighteen iron-red bats hovering among detached floral sprigs and billows of blue and white clouds, each side with four bats surrounding a central bat, with further groups of three bats below the handles and two on the neck, the dragon handles finely painted in delicate shades of iron-red with gilt details, the raised collar band encircling the neck centred with two iron-redshou medallions and pink-petalled floral sprays against a rich yellow ground picked out with feathery gilt scrolls, all below a border of pendent yellow-ground ruyi and a gilt mouth rim, the base skirted with pale green crashing waves and two jagged rocks exquisitely enamelled in shades of blue and pale green, the interior and the base enamelled turquoise, the latter inscribed with a six-character gilt seal mark; 51.5 cm., 20 1/4  in. Estimation 3,000,000 — 4,000,000 HKD (294,204 - 392,271 EUR)

Provenance: Collection formed before the 1930s in Kyoto, Kyoto Prefecture, Japan.  

This vase belongs to a group of vessels commissioned by the Qianlong emperor which were created to imitate cloisonné enamel. Qianlong was particularly fond of cloisonné work which he revived on a grand scale after a period of disregard under the Yongzheng emperor. He had it imitated not only in porcelain, like on the present piece, but even in copper, where the wires separating the cloisons of different enamels were mirrored by finely-painted golden lines. Although the idea of imitating other materials through porcelain had existed well-before the 18th century, the craftsmen of the Qianlong period advanced the technique to a completely different level of perfection, sometimes creating pieces that were difficult to distinguish from the actual medium they were simulating. The painter of the present piece has successfully imitated the effect of gilt wires by outlining the famille-rose enamelled pattern in gilt, the linearity of which creates a pleasing contrast with the sculptural dragon handles. 

While the present vase imitates cloisonné metal work in its colour scheme, stylistically it stands in the tradition of yangcai porcelain with its sumptuous overall design on a coloured ground. The particularly unusual feature of this vase, however, is the crashing waves adorning the foot rather than the more customary upright lappets.  See a blue-ground vase of similar form and wave band, but painted with two phoenixes flying amongst clouds and with elephant-head handles, published in The Complete Collection of Treasures of the Palace Museum. Porcelains with Cloisonné Enamel Decoration and Famille-Rose Decoration, Hong Kong, 1999, pl. 134. 

This vase is rich in symbolism, with the front and back faces of the vase decorated with the wufu in iron red to represent the five blessings and a further three bats below each handle to total eighteen bats overall, a further reference to prosperity. The recurring scrolling clouds allude to never-ending fortune while the shou character symbolises to longevity. 

A globular vase of this type, painted overall with numerous bats and scrolling clouds above a lappet and ruyi border on the foot and flanked with sculptural dragon handles, was sold in our London rooms, 10th December 1991, lot 318. Further vases belonging to this group, of various forms and decoration, include three from the Qing Court collection and still in Beijing, illustrated in ibid., pls. 115, 118 and 119, the latter also with a gilt seal mark; one from the collections of Alfred Morrison, the Fonthill Heirlooms and J.T. Tai, sold in these rooms, 7th October 2010, lot 2132; and another sold three times in these rooms, most recently 8th April 2010, lot 1852. 

Sotheby's. Qing Imperial Porcelain – A Kyoto Collection. Hong Kong | 08 oct. 2013 - http://www.sothebys.com