A fine and rare coral-ground Famille Rose altar vase, Seal mark and period of Jiaqing. Estimate 150,000 — 200,000 HKD. Unsold. Photo courtesy Sotheby's

the globular lower body supported on a wide splayed foot, rising to a bulbous moulded neck surmounted by a disc-shaped mouth of angled profile, the body exquisitely decorated in vibrant colours of the famille-rose palette with the bajixiang emblems, interspersed by leafy lotus scrolls beneath a band of interlocking ruyiheads and above a band of lappets skirting the foot, the neck decorated with yellow, green, red and blue stripes, the mouth painted with bands of composite scrolling flowers enhanced by gilt beaded borders all against a bright ruby-red ground, the base turquoise, with a central square reserved in white for the six-character seal mark in iron-red; 26 cm., 10 1/4  in.

Provenance: Collection of Lord Loch of Drylaw (1827-1900).
Collection of Alfred Morrison (1821-97).
Collection of Lord Margadale of Islay, Fonthill House.
Christie's London, 18th October 1971, lot 72 (one of a pair).

Bibliography: Recent Acquisitions 2009, S. Marchant & Son Ltd., London, 2009, cat. no. 43 and cover.

Notes: Richly decorated with the bajixiang on a luxurious ruby-ground, vases of this form and decoration were first produced during the later Qianlong period in imitation of Tibetan metalwork, for use either in the Lamaist temples in Beijing or as Imperial gifts to visiting Tibetan lamas. The companion piece to this vase was sold in these rooms, 14th November 1983, lot 188; and a closely related example was sold in our London rooms, 9th July 1974, lot 419, and again in these rooms, 21st May 1980, lot 235. A Jiaqing marked yellow-ground example was included in the exhibition Late Chinese Imperial Porcelain, Art Gallery of New South Wales, Sydney, 1980, cat. no. 10.

For Qianlong mark and period prototypes painted with similar designs on different colour grounds, see a coral-ground example sold in these rooms, 5th November 1997, lot 1567; a yellow-ground vase published in Julian Thompson, The Alan Chuang Collection of Chinese Porcelain, Hong Kong, 2009, pl. 112; and a pink-ground example from the Fonthill Heirlooms, illustrated in Hugh Moss, By Imperial Command. An Introduction to Chinese Imperial Painted Enamels, Hong Kong, 1976, pl. 84, sold in these rooms, 20th May 1981, lot 871.

Porcelain vessels of this type derived from metal-bodied Tibetan altar vases, such as the jewelled silver benja pot made for use in one of the Buddhist chapels in the Forbidden City illustrated in Cultural Relics of Tibetan Buddhism Collected in the Qing Palace, Beijing, 1992, pl. 146 (partly concealed by its pleated silk wrapping).

Sotheby's. Important Chinese Works of Art, Hong Kong, 07 avr. 2015