Lot 513. A superbly enamelled and very rare doucai and 'famille-rose' 'Eight Fruits' vase, meiping, Qing dynasty, Yongzheng-Qianlong period (1723-1795), 34.5 cm., 13 1/2 in. Estimate Upon Request. Lot sold 10,960,000 HKD. Photo: Sotheby's

finely potted with rounded shoulders gently curving to a slightly waisted neck with lipped rim, exquisitely painted in brilliant translucent enamels outlined in underglaze-blue and highlighted in 'famille-rose' colours with eight detached fruiting sprays of pomegranate, peach, finger-citron, cherry, longan, loquat, grape and lychee, the fruit delicately shaded in layered tones of pink, aubergine, lime-green and yellow, borne amid slender branches rising from lingzhi fungus sprigs, with foliage in two shades of green, all between a band of upright yellow-ground lappets heavily bordered in dark underglaze-blue around the base and pendant yellow ruyi heads at the shoulder, the neck encircled by a band of pomegranate motifs coloured in green, above a wave border studded with florets, the base slightly sunken and ground.

Provenance: From the private collection of a Parisian dealer who ceased trading in the 1950s.
Acquired in France in 1973.

Note: The two decades or so of the Yongzheng and early Qianlong periods undoubtedly were among the most fruitful periods for the development of Chinese porcelain. They were marked by both Emperors' deep appreciation and understanding of the aesthetic harmony and technical virtuosity achieved by craftsmen of the past, and at the same time by their keen ambition to equal or exceed those qualities without relapsing into imitation. The period is remarkable for the rich variety of styles inspired by antiquities but adapted to contemporary taste and for its outstanding standard of quality.

The present vase echoes the past in multiple ways, taking its cues from the most glorious reigns of the Ming dynasty, but adopting a colour scheme which had only been developed some years earlier. In shape and design it loosely follows an early Ming prototype: blue-and-white vases of meiping form decorated with six fruiting branches are among the most characteristic products of the Yongle period (1403 - 1424); for an example see the vase sold in our London rooms, 15 December 1987, lot 142. The doucai painting style, with its delicate drawing in fine blue outlines and its colouration in polychrome washes was the archetypal style of decoration in the Chenghua reign (1465 - 1487), when the colours, however, were still limited to a few bright shades. It was only in the 1720s that the wide range of tones and the subtle variety of tints used on this vase became available; but this combination of doucai style and famille rose palette always remained rare.

Like many other blue-and-white styles of the early Ming period, this design was re-invented and transformed in several different ways during the Yongzheng Emperor’s reign, before becoming one of the favourites of the Qianlong Emperor, for whom it was reproduced in some quantity, mainly in blue-and-white.

The present vase is unique in its design and colour scheme, and polychrome versions are extremely rare in general. It may be compared with two famous meiping, one from the John D. Rockefeller 3rd Collection at the Asia Society, New York, which is painted in enamels of the famille rose only with a more freely composed design of the san duo, 'the three abundances', pomegranate, peach and loquat; see Denise Patry Leidy, Treasures of Asian Art. The Asia Society’s Mr. and Mrs. John D. Rockefeller 3rd Collection, New York, 1994, pl.200; and its companion piece in the Walters Art Gallery, Baltimore, published in Rose Kerr, ‘The William T. Walters Collection of Qing Dynasty Porcelain’, Orientations, April 1991, p.61, fig.9.

Vase with Pomegranates, Peaches, and Longans, 1723-1735, porcelain with overglaze enamels. H: 13 3/8 x Diam: 8 15/16 in. (33.97 x 22.7 cm), 49.2217, Walters Art Gallery, Baltimore © Creative Commons Licence