Lot 3218. A Famille-Rose ‘Floral’ and ‘San-Duo’ Vase, Tianqiuping, Jiaqing Period (1796-1820). H 3,5cm. Estimate HKD 2,500,000 - 3,500,000 (USD 320,513 - 448,718). Sold Price: HKD 6,240,000 (USD 800,000). Copyright 2021 © Poly Auction Hong Kong Limited

This vase is nicely potted with the spherical body rising to a tall cylindrical neck, painted in bright and colorful enamels. The exterior is densely decorated with large lotus blossoms emerging the 'three abundances' flanked by bats entwined with colorful foliate scrolls amidst cloud wisps. The shoulder is decorated with a yellow-ground collar of alternating ruyi and bats interspersed with peaches while the neck is painted with further lotus scrolling and auspicious chimes and jewels. The mouth is encircled with a band of blue scrollwork between gilt-painted borders and the foot is encircled with colorful lappets. The base is finely enameled in turquoise and inscribed with a six-character seal mark in iron red.

Provenance: 1. Sotheby’s London, 15 December 1987, lot 201
2. Sotheby’s Hong Kong, 18 May 1988, lot 275.

Note: This vase is striking for its exquisite painting in vivid enamels, and represents one of the classic styles developed at the Imperial kilns in Jingdezhen. The complex and auspicious design is particularly successful. Flowers and leaves are skillfully shaded in pastel tones, leaves are harmoniously entwined with bats, and the three fruits are painted with the skin showing signs of ripening. The surface of the vase is entirely decorated, and the overall effect is of opulence and luxury.

Despite the abdication of the Qianlong Emperor and enthronement of Jiaqing in 1796, Qianlong continued to control the administration of the court and influence state affairs until his death in 1799. His active influence is reflected in the production of imperial porcelain wares at the Imperial kilns in Jingdezhen, Jiangxi province, where forms and designs devised in the preceding reign, such as the present vase, continued to be made. These vases emulated the elegant and stylish creations developed at the Imperial Enamel Workshop in Beijing.

Vases belonging to this group share a number of features, including the iron-red seal mark. They are known in a variety of shapes, with or without handles, and display subtle variations in their designs. The present piece is particularly unusual in its depiction of the sanduo (‘three abundances’) motif emerging from lotus pistils. Such highly auspicious design of the pomegranate, peach and finger citron are symbolic of many sons, long life and blessings. The vase also features bats, which when painted upside down make the rebus ‘happiness is arriving’, and lingzhi, the immortality fungus, forming from lotuses at the neck.

Related examples with lime-green ground are known. See a slightly smaller vase painted with peaches emerging from lotus and shou characters, from the T.Y. Chao collection, sold in Sotheby’s Hong Kong, 18th November 1986, lot 128; a pair modeled with a flared neck and with a similar design of lingzhi emerging from lotus, sold at Christie’s New York, 11th May 1981, lot 753 and again in Sotheby’s Hong Kong, 27th April 2003, lot 200; another sold at Christie’s New York, 11th May 1981, lot 753; and a further vase lacking the ruyi band at the neck, from the George Weishaupt Collection, illustrated in Gunhild Avitabile, Von Schatz der Drachen/From the Dragon's Treasure, London, 1987, pl. 23, was sold in Sotheby’s Hong Kong, 30th April 1996, lot 509. A variation of this motif is found on a pair of smaller vases with a flared neck and bat handles, sold in Sotheby’s London, 6th December 1994; and a vase with melons instead of peaches sold twice in Sotheby’s Hong Kong, 29th November 1979, lot 253, and 17th May 1988, lot 115.

Poly Auctions.Imperial Treasures: A Selection of Qing Imperial Porcelains, Hong Kong, 21 April 2021