Lot 86. A painted enamel 'Immortal island' vase, Qianlong four-character seal mark and of the period (1736-1795); 9.8cm (3 7/8in) high. Estimate £25,000 - 35,000 (€34,000 - 48,000). Sold for £ 22,500 (€ 25,135). Photo: Bonhams.

The baluster body vividly painted in strong shades of cobalt blue with a continuous landscape scene depicting an Immortal island with a huabiao column, tiled pavilions and rocky outcrops emerging from a ground of foaming waves, approached by a mythical crane flying amidst scrolling clouds, all beneath a band of ruyi-heads to the shoulder and key-fret bands bordering the rim and the foot. 

Exhibited, published and illustrated: M.Gillingham, Chinese Painted Enamel, Ashmolean Museum, Oxford, June & July 1978, Catalogue, p.62, no.72.

Note: The pavilions rising from foaming waves depict the mythical island of Penglai, which is said to be located at the eastern fringes of the ocean, and is associated with the Eight Immortals. 

The present lot is highly unusual, in its delicate size and attractively limited palette, and also in its decoration with a continuous scene in the Chinese style. The technique was brought to China by Jesuit missionaries, and retained much of this Western association in the designs chosen for this medium: pieces typically are painted in famille rose enamels, often with European figures or landscapes within elaborately foliate cartouches. The present lot therefore stands apart as an individual and masterful approach to painted enamel wares; the skilful handling of the unrolling landscape together with the Qianlong reign mark suggest that the present lot was made in Guangdong as tribute ware for the imperial court.

Given the rarity of the present vase, no similar examples appear to have been published, however a vase of similar lantern-shape with a continuous landscape scene, but larger and painted in famille rose, is illustrated in Compendium of Collections in the Palace Museum: Enamels 5, Beijing, 2011, no.196, and another vase painted in a similarly restricted blue palette and with a four-character Qianlong mark in red enamel, only slighter larger than the present lot but archaistic in style, is illustrated ibid, no.149.

Bonhams. FINE CHINESE ART, 14 May 2015 10:00 BST - LONDON, NEW BOND STREET