Lot 3111.An impressive carved three-colour lacquer baluster vase, mid-Qing dynasty, 18th century; 26 5/8 in. (67.5 cm.) high. Estimate HKD 600,000 - HKD 800,000. Price realised HKD 2,500,000. © Christie's Image Ltd 2019. 

The magnificent vase is decorated with two gilt-bronze loose-ring monster mask handles to the shoulder. The exterior of the vase is crisply carved through layers of ochre-yellow, green and cinnabar-red lacquer with a sumptuous design of upright and pendent Indian lotus blossoms and flowerbuds growing on scrolling vines bearing trailing leaves, all between lappet panels to the neck and foot enclosing a pair of confronting phoenix with archaistic angular scrollwork bodies above a peony bloom. The mouth and foot rim are decorated with carved key-fret bands. The interior is lacquered red and the base lacquered black. 

Note: Only one other lacquer vase of this design is known, an almost identical vase was sold at Christie’s Hong Kong, 1 November 2004, lot 1000, and illustrated in Christie’s 20 Years in Hong Kong, 1986-2006: Chinese Ceramics and Works of Art Highlights, Hong Kong, 2006, p. 309 (fig. 1). Few others can rival the present lot for its imposing stature and opulent decoration which combines archaism with the distinctive pseudo-rococo style of dense floral motifs prevalent in the mid-Qing period.

From the Collection of Sir Claude Maxwell and Lady MacDonald, British Ambassador to China at the end of the 19th century. A magnificent carved three-colour lacquer baluster vase, Qianlong period (1736-1795); 26 3/4 in. (68 cm.) high. Sold for 1,071,750 HKD at Christie’s Hong Kong, 1 November 2004, lot 1000. © Christie's Image Ltd 2004.

This vase compares very closely with a porcelain counterpart, a spectacular famille rose yellow-ground baluster vase of very similar shape, size and floral motifs, sold at Christie’s Hong Kong, 29 April 2001, lot 555 (fig. 2). It is highly likely that one of these two vases was made to emulate the other in a different medium. In both cases, the elaborate foliate scroll decoration has been intricately rendered and because of the density of the design, conveys a sense of horror vacui, a characteristic element of the 18th-century rococo style.

A spectacular massive famille rose yellow-ground vase, Qianlong six-character seal mark and of the period (1736-1795); 23 in. (58.4 cm.) high. Sold for 11,925,000 HKD at Christie’s Hong Kong, 29 April 2001, lot 555. © Christie's Image Ltd 2001.

The lacquer decoration on the present vase is rarely seen on such a massive vase, compare a three-colour lacquer lobed vase of a similar size also decorated with two gilt-bronze handles and archaistic lappets sold at Christie’s New York, 18-19 September 2014, lot 1088. This type of design is more often found on lacquer pieces on a much smaller scale. For example, the lotus scroll design can be found on a Qianlong-marked circular box and cover, illustrated in Carved Lacquer in the Collection of the Palace Museum, Beijing, 1985, pl. 356; while pls. 324 and 325 illustrate two vases with archaistic motifs of phoenix and lappet panels. 

Lacquer vases as large as the present lot are extremely rare. Compare a few examples which are nearly as large, a tianqiuping with dragons in the Palace Museum, Beijing, illustrated ibid., pl. 306; and a bottle vase with landscape panels from the Asian Art Museum of San Francisco, illustrated in Hai-wai Yi-chen, Chinese Art in Overseas Collections - Lacquerware, Taipei, 1987, pl. 166.