Lot 3999. A rare imperial famille rose moulded and inscribed baluster vase, Jiaqing iron-red six-character seal mark and of the period (1796-1820); 14 1/2 in. (36.8 cm.) high. Estimate 3,000,000 - HKD 5,000,000. Price realised HKD 8,420,000. © Christie's Images Ltd 2012.  

The baluster body of the vase is moulded with four raised and gilt-edged cartouches. Two panels are inscribed in clerical script, lishu, and are divided by two further pictorial panels: one of egrets wading through a flowering lotus pond, and the other with a pair of birds seated on a magnolia branch amidst flowering tree peonies. The panels are reserved against a lime-green background, detailed with four pairs of blue-enamelled confronted archaistic phoenixes. These are set below four groups of bats in flight, each bat is suspending in its beak a pair fish tied to a musical chime, decorating the cylindircal neck. The neck is further designed with a band of ruyi heads on the underside of the everted mouth rim, and keyfrets on the short foot ring, box.

Note: The present decorative format in the combined use of floral decorations juxtaposed with related poetic inscriptions is known among a small group of famille rose decorated ceramics of the Qianlong and Jiaqing periods. A Qianlong-marked vase with panels reserved on a famille rose decorated gilt-ground is illustrated in Porcelains with Cloisonne Enamel Decoration and Famille Rose Decoration, The Complete Collection of Treasures of the Palace Museum, Hong Kong, 1999, p. 155, pl. 137. Also from the Beijing Palace Museum is a Jiaqing-marked vase similarly inscribed with Qianlong poems, ibid., p. 192, pl. 169; where the author mentions the Qing Court archives recorded this particular group of ceramics as those that were commissioned for the Emperor Emeritus, the retired Emperor Qianlong, during the early Jiaqing reign.

The poems inscribed were two of the four composed by Emperor Qianlong which paid tribute to the four seasonal flowers: the peony, lotus, chrysanthemum and prunus. In this instance, the panels are in praise of the Spring flower, peony, followed by the two iron-red seals, Qian and Long; and the other is in praise of the Summer flower, lotus, and ends with Chen and Han, 'Written by His Majesty'. A comparable Jiaqing-marked baluster vase with similar decorations on a yellow ground was sold at Sotheby's Hong Kong, 11 April 2008, lot 2853. This cited example, without the moulded lobes found on the present vase, is enamelled to reserve four panels: two floral and two poetic inscriptions, in praise of Autumn and Winter.

The decoration of the musical chime being suspended on ribbons attached to a pair of fish and a bat in flight form the rebus: Fuqing Youyu, 'May you have an abundance of wealth and auspicious happiness'. These motifs were popular on famille rose ceramics of the Qianlong period. The present vase is more in keeping with the style of the Qianlong period and is highly comparable to the Qianlong-marked baluster vase inscribed with these same poems illustrated op. cit., 1999, p. 141, no. 123.

Christie's. The Imperial Sale, Hong Kong, 30 May 2012