Lot 3618. A fine pair of ruby-ground famille-rose vases, Seal marks and period of Jiaqing (1796-1820). Estimate 2,500,000 — 3,000,000 HKD. Lot sold 11,480,000 HKD. Photo: Sothebys. 

each potted with a well-proportioned baluster body rising to a broad shoulder, sumounted by a waisted neck and flared rim, the body decorated with a frieze enclosing lush floral blooms of varying colours borne on gnarled stems, all between ruyi bands repeated at the rim, the lower body and neck painted with stylised lotus strapwork against a rich ruby-red ground, the dense designs on the neck further decorated with a stylised bat suspending a tasselled endless knot, the interior and base enamelled turquoise, the latter centred with an iron-red seal mark within a white cartouche; 31.5 cm, 12 3/8  in.

Provenance: A private Japanese collection, by repute.
Christie's Hong Kong, 26th April 2004, lot 911.

Notes: In shape and decoration this elegant pair of vases belongs to a group of wares produced at the imperial kilns in Jingdezhen during the early years of the Jiaqing Emperor’s reign. Wares of this period continued to be influenced by Qianlong designs and were most probably made by the same potters who were involved with manufacturing pieces for the Qianlong Emperor and his household. The very fine and meticulous painting of the flower motif is reminiscent of contemporary scroll paintings, with the ruby-ground design on the neck and around the foot serving as borders for the decoration. By turning the vase the design slowly unfolds as a continuous scene.

Vases of this form and decoration are rare, although a larger pair of lime green-ground vases of baluster shape with similar angled shoulders, and decorated with a closely related motif of flowers, included in Sotheby’s Thirty Years in Hong Kong, Hong Kong, 2003, pl. 363, was sold in these rooms, 29th October 2001, lot 611, and again at Christie’s Hong Kong, 29th May 2007, lot 1378. See also two vases decorated with a related floral motif, one from the collection of Richard Feetham, sold in these rooms, 30th October 2002, lot 269, and the other, offered in these rooms, 11th April 2008, lot 2851.

Vases decorated with this elegant design of flowering plants continued to be produced in the succeeding Daoguang reign; see a ruby-ground vase from the Qing Court collection and still in Beijing, illustrated in The Complete Collection of Treasures of the Palace Museum. Porcelains with Cloisonné Enamel Decoration, Hong Kong, 1999, pl. 193; and another with a Shendetang mark, from the Weishaupt collection, illustrated in Gunhild Avitabile, From the Dragon’s Treasure, London, 1987, pl. 53.

Sotheby's, Important Chinese Art, Hong Kong, 05 Oct 2016