Lot 512. A rare 'famille-rose' 'sanduo' vase, tianqiuping, Seal mark and period of Qianlong (1736-1795), 51.5 cm., 20 1/4 in. Estimate 3,000,000 - 4,000,000 HKD. Lot sold 5,472,000 HKD. Photo: Sotheby's

well potted with generous globular body rising to a slightly flared cylindrical neck, painted around the sides with luxurious fruiting branches of peach, pomegranate and finger-citron, constituting the 'sanduo', the 'Three Abundances', the fruit delicately shaded in tones of pink, copper-red, yellow and lime-green, growing from gnarled branches intertwining as they rise from the base, the leaves in two shades of green interspersed with pomegranate and peach blossoms and buds, inscribed on the base with the six-character seal-mark in underglaze-blue.

Provenance: Acquired in France.

Note: Qianlong tianqiuping decorated with the sanduo motif are extremely rare. The present vase is exceptional for its fine enamelling of this auspicious design and for its magnificent large size. This vase is reminiscent of Qianlong peach vases of which several from the former imperial collection are now dispersed in various museum collections; two examples still in Beijing are illustrated in Kangxi, Yongzheng, Qianlong: Qing Porcelain from the Palace Museum Collection, Hong Kong, 1989, p. 335, pl. 16, and in the Complete Collection of Treasures of the Palace Museum: Porcelain with Cloisonne Enamel Decoration and Famille Rose Decoration, Hong Kong, 1999, pl. 86; a third preserved in one of the former imperial summer residences in Liaoning is published in The Gathering of Select Gems from Shenyang Imperial Palace Museum Collection, Shenyang, 1991, p. 33 right; and one in Taiwan is published in the Illustrated Catalogue of Ch'ing Dynasty Porcelain in the National Palace Museum. Ch'ien-lung Ware and Other Wares, Tokyo, 1981, pl. 27.

Compare a Qianlong mark and period tianqiuping painted with magpies perched on pomegranate branches, from the Bruce collection, sold in our London rooms, 12th May 1953, lot 128, and now in the City Art Gallery, Bristol, illustrated in Soame Jenyns, Later Chinese Porcelain, London, 1951, col. pl. D; and a Qianlong vase of ovoid form painted with the sanduo motif, from the collections of Alfred Morrison and the Rt. Hon. the Lord Margadale of Islay, T.D. at Fonthill House, Tisbury, Wiltshire, sold in these rooms, 29th October 1991, lot 286, and again, 25th April 2004, lot 246.

A very rare gilded 'famille-rose' blue-ground 'sanduo' vase, Iron-red seal mark and period of Qianlong (1736-1795), 32.1 cm., 12 5/8 in. Sold for 5,102,400 HKD at Sotheby's Hong Kong, 25th April 2004, lot 246.  Photo: Sotheby's

Sotheby's. Important Chinese Art: The Collection of a Parisian Connoisseur, Hong Kong, 08 Apr 2007