fig. 9. Portrait of Paul Bernat (1902-1987).

 The companion bottle, now in the Hong Kong Museum of Art, which apparently shares the same provenance from Prince Gong Yixin over A.W. Bahr to Paul and Helen Bernat, was sold in these rooms 15th November 1988, lot 77; it has also been much published, for example, by Hugh Moss, By Imperial Command. An Introduction to Ch’ing Imperial Painted Enamels, Hong Kong, 1976, pl. 41.

 The Golden Feathers of a Magnificent Phoenix: A Beijing-Enamelled Pouch-Shaped Glass Vase
Zhang Rong

Falang, the Chinese word for enamel ware, is a transliteration of several related foreign words. A silicate, with properties similar to ceramic and glass, enamel consists primarily of quartz, feldspar, borax, and fluoride. According to the respective manufacture processes, enamelware can be divided into five main types: cloisonné, basse-taille, champlevé, painted enamel, and translucent enamel. Among these, painted enamel emerged during the Kangxi period (1662-1722), when the Imperial Household Workshops at the palace and other imperial workshops in Guangdong and Beijing all produced it. In the Palace Museum’s terminology, “painted enamel” (huafalang) refers specifically to enamelled copper, yintai to enamelled silver, and falangcai to enamelled porcelain and glass. In Qing palace records, painted enamel is categorised into: enamel painting on gold, enamelled silver, enamel painting on copper, enamel painting on Yixing stoneware, enamel painting on porcelain, and enamel painting on glass. This essay focuses on enamel painting on glass, but excludes snuff bottles.

The Imperial Household Workshops (Zaobanchu) of the Qing dynasty specialised in producing wares for the imperial family. They were established in the Yangxindian (Hall of Mental Cultivation) during the Kangxi reign and are also known as the Hall of Mental Cultivation workshops. The Glass Workshop was founded in 1696.1 The Zaobanchu gezuocheng zao huoji qingdang or Records of the Various Imperial Household Workshops (hereafter Workshop Records) preserved at the China First Archive are direct and reliable documents for the study of Qing craft and cultural artefacts. Begun in 1723 and sustained through 1911, the Workshop Records faithfully record the names, places of origin, times of creation, formats, materials, expenses, manufacture processes, uses of imperial wares, as well as the edicts associated with them. Enamelled glass was the joint innovation by the glass and enamel Imperial Household Workshops. The Workshop Records and extant artefacts indicate that enamelled glass was created at the Qing court only during the Kangxi (1662-1722), Yongzheng (1723-1735), and Qianlong reigns (1735-1796).

Almost every surviving example of Qing enamelled glassware is preserved in museum and private collections in China and abroad. A partial list includes two examples in the Palace Museum, Beijing; seven in the National Palace Museum, Taipei; nine in the Percival David Foundation of Chinese Art (currently on view in exhibition hall 95 at the British Museum); one in the Hong Kong Museum of Art (p. 14, fig. 1); two in the Corning Museum of Glass; one in the Municipal Museum, The Hague; and one in the collection of the Hong Kong collector Andrew Lee. Two Qianlong period enamelled glass brushpots have appeared at auction.

fig. 1. Beijing enamelled falangcai pouch-shaped glass vase decorated with chilong, black enamel mark and period of Qianlong, two views Sotheby’s Hong Kong, 15th November 1988, lot 77. Collection of Hong Kong Museum of Art, Hong Kong.

There are only three known extant examples of Kangxi period enamelled glass: the first is the blue-ground enamelled glass vase with peony motifs at the National Palace Museum (fig. 10), 2 measuring 12.7 cm in height; the second is the yellow-ground enamelled glass box with peony motifs at the Municipal Museum of The Hague (fig. 11); 3 and the third is the enamelled glass cup with cartouches and motifs of the flowers of the four seasons in the collection of Andrew Lee (fig. 12).4 Dated to the 11th day of the seventh month of the 15th year of the Daoguang reign, Furnishing Archives of Qing Palace in the Collection of the Palace Museum (fig. 13) 5 documents “a blue-ground enamelled glass vase with peony motifs and a Kangxi reign mark”, the only Kangxi-period example in the Furnishing Archives. The vase is housed in a nanmu box consisting of a top cover and a base and measuring 16.5 cm in height. Created by order of the Qianlong Emperor, this luxurious box is incised in regular script with the inscription “a blue-ground enamelled glass vase with peony motifs created during the Kangxi reign”. This title is from the Qianlong period and, although it lacks a reign mark, indicates the emperor’s identification of the vase as a product of the Kangxi period. Indeed, enamelled glass was an innovation of the Kangxi reign. The Kangxi Emperor himself did not only enjoy these wares himself but also bestowed them on officials and foreign dignitaries as honours and tokens of his appreciation. In 1706, the Emperor gave the Papal Legate “a painted enamelled glass vase”. 6 In 1716, he bestowed an “imperially-commissioned enamelled glass snuff bottle with colourful designs on a coral-red ground” on Chen Yuanlong, Inspector-General of Guangxi. 7 The above three examples demonstrate that enamelled glass achieved a high level of sophistication during the Kangxi reign and was representative of the period’s culture in its formal types, decorative patterns, and inscriptions.

fig. 10. Blue-ground enamelled glass vase with peony motifs, Qing dynasty, Kangxi period, Qing court collection. Courtesy of the National Palace Museum, Taipei

fig. 11. Yellow-ground enamelled glass box with peony motifs mark and period of Kangxi. Collection of Municipal Museum of The Hague, The Hague.

fig. 12. Enamelled glass cup with cartouches and motifs of the flowers of the four seasons, Yuzhi mark and period of Kangxi Collection of Andrew Lee, Hong Kong

The only known example of Yongzheng-period enamelled glass is the snuff bottle in the form of a bamboo stalk segment (fig. 14), bearing a Yongzheng reign mark. Currently in the collection of the National Palace Museum, Taipei, this work is documented in the Workshop Records as having been completed on the 15th day of the second month of the sixth year of the Yongzheng reign by the “miscellaneous workshop”. 8 Another five examples of enamelled glass are recorded in the Yongzheng period entries of the Workshop Records, but unfortunately these have not resurfaced.

fig. 14. Enamelled glass snuff bottle in the form of a bamboo stalk segment, mark and period of Yongzheng, Qing court collection Courtesy of the National Palace Museum, Taipei. 

“In the second year of the Yongzheng reign (1724). Enamelling Workshop. On the fourth day of the second month, Prince Yi presented a yellow glass vase. It was a fine and exquisite vase, as such enamelled glass vases hereafter shall all be created after this model. So it was decreed.” 9

“In the third year of the Yongzheng reign (1725). Enamelling Workshop. On the 10th day of the ninth month, Director Haiwang presented a glass enamelled chicken ewer, along with an ivory-inlaid red stand” 10

“In the fifth year of the Yongzheng reign (1727). On the 22nd day of the 12th month, Director Haiwang conveyed the decree (to the Enamelling Workshop) to create a pouch-shaped flower vase with gilt and enamelled western flowers over ‘clear skies after rain.’ So it was recorded.” 11 

“In the seventh year of the Yongzheng reign (1729). On the 17th day of the fourth month, according to a notice from Yuanmingyuan, Director Haiwang presented a white-ground glass vase on the third day of the month. The colour of the vase is outstanding, the base is distinctive, the body is enamelled with green bamboo and inscribed with black enamel, and the mark inscribed with deliberation; the style and shape were approved before firing. Such vase should be modelled on glassware. Vases of this colour scheme but slight variations were also commissioned; their subject matter can range from green bamboo to red flowers, with coordinated placement of the imperial marks. So it was decreed.” 12

“In the 13th year of the Yongzheng reign (1735), an enamelled glass bowl was recorded in the Zaobanchu archival records at the Yangxindian (Hall of Mental Cultivation).” 13

According to the Workshop Records, the Qianlong period produced more enamelled glassware than the Yongzheng period. Qianlong period examples survive in greater quantity than Kangxi period ones. The Daoguang period Furnishing Archives records three Qianlong period works of enamelled glass. All three are in the National Palace Museum, Taipei, which is home to another two important works: an octagonal vase painted with motifs of five bats (symbols of good fortune) surrounding the character for “longevity” and a zhadou painted with Western ladies. 15 Important examples of Qianlong period enamelled glass in the Percival David Foundation collection are two goblets, one brushpot decorated with figures, and a small jar decorated with a shepherdess. The Corning Museum of Glass houses two enamelled glass jars decorated with floral motifs and inscribed with poetic lines.

The rarity and preciousness of enamelled glass is inextricable from the difficulty of its production. Indeed, it is the most technically demanding of the six aforementioned types of enamelware. A contemporary maker of enamelled glass snuff bottles said to me, “Enamelled glass is generally fired to approximately 850 degrees, which is very close to the melting points of both the glass vessel and the enamel. This is necessary for the harmonious fusion of the two. But the temperature is difficult to control. If it drops only slightly, the colours will not be thoroughly integrated, and the end result will not be ideal. However, if the temperature is too high, the vessel will melt and lose its shape, ruining the entire effort. Moreover, each vessel requires at least five such high-temperature firings, each of which is a challenge. During the firing, one must also manage the layered and gradated application of coloured enamels like one would colour wash in fine-brush painting, with each layer requiring another firing. In this painstaking process, a work of art is born. It is a lovely fairy, embodying the creator’s ambitions for the world to see”. Because each enamel is forged at a different temperature, four or five firings are required for each work, beginning with the highest temperature and ending with the lowest. During imperial times, craftsmen used charcoal as fuel and, without the benefit of thermometers, relied on nothing but experience to gauge the temperature. The larger a work was, the more difficult it was to make. Consequently, extant examples of Qing enamelled glassware are predominantly snuff bottles, and larger works are exceeding rare. The Workshop Records also contain entries on failed firings.

The focus of this essay is an exceptional Qianlong period Beijing-enamelled pouch-shaped glass vase with motifs of dancing phoenix and peonies. Measuring 18.2 cm in height, the vase is in the shape of a pouch, with elegant and regular fold patterns running along the rim of its mouth. Around its neck is a pink strap sculpted in high relief. Made from a base of translucent milky-white glass, the vessel was first fired with a coating of yellow enamel. On its two sides are paintings of two stooping phoenix with parrot-like beaks, oblong eyes, narrow necks, and stretched wings. With its large, feathered tails pointing upwards and its long and narrow feet outstretched, the phoenix strike dynamic poses as if dancing in the sky. Their bodies are finely outlined in gold. Below them are branches of blossoming peonies and chrysanthemums, and above them are colourful flowing clouds. Amidst the green leaves is a peach-shaped cartouche bearing a blue-enamel reign mark Qianlong nianzhi. The warm milky-white glass is visible on the uncoated base of the vase. Its floral decorative patterns are painted in various shades of green, red, pinkish purple, and blue. These colours create a powerful contrast with the yellow background, which symbolises prosperity and good fortune. The Hong Kong Museum of Art houses an almost identical pouch-shaped glass vase of the same form, base enamel colour, and reign mark, although it is decorated with motifs of chi dragons and flowers. This pair of vases was created at the same time and are the largest examples of their type known to date. Creating their basic form was already a considerable challenge; their lobes required mould-blowing, while the folds around their mouths had to be shaped by hand quickly and precisely before the glass hardens. An aesthetically perfect vase such as the pair in question necessitated repeated attempts.

The Workshop Records contain the following entries relevant to the Qianlong pouch-shaped glass vase in question:

“In the fifth year of the Yongzheng reign (1727). On the 22nd day of the 12th month, Director Haiwang conveyed the decree (to the Enamelling Workshop) to create a pouch-shaped flower vase with gilt and enamelled western flowers over ‘clear skies after rain.’ So it was recorded.” 16

“In the third year of the Qianlong reign (1737). Glass Workshop. On the 22nd day of the first month, Chief Supervisor Bai Shixiu came and said that the eunuchs Mao Tuan, Hu Shijie, and Gao Yu presented a bright-blue enamelled pouch-shaped vase, and announced the decree that several additional enamelled vases should be created after it. So it was decreed. On the 24th day of the same month, Deputy Treasurer took the original bright-blue enamelled pouch-shaped vase to have it copied.” 17

“In the fifth year of the Qianlong reign (1739), it was recorded that on the third day of the third month, Botang and Ashengde came and said that the eunuch Wei Zhu and Chief Supervisor Deng Bage received the decree to order the Glass Workshop to present the six small glass vessels that it created. So it was decreed. On the second day of the fifth month of this year, Leader Wu Shu presented a pair of enamelled glass flower vases to the eunuch Gao Yu, and two enamelled glass peach-shaped waterpots, and one enamelled glass double gourd to present to the palace.” 18

These are the relevant entries that have been found. Despite their brevity, we learn from them that by 1727 the Qing court workshops had begun producing enamelled pouch-shaped flower vases. The phrase 'clear skies after rain', which appears several times in the records, refers to an enamel that imitates the outer glaze of wood-fired (chaiyao) wares. The 1737 entry does not specify the number of vases attempted or whether they were successfully produced. The 1739 entry states explicitly that “a pair of enamelled glass flower vases” was successfully produced. These may well be the vases ordered in 1737. The terms ping (vase) and huacha (flower vase) appear often in the Workshop Records. It is unclear whether these referred to different vessel types and whether they were displayed on their own or used to contain flowers. Nonetheless, we may reasonably surmise that the same craftsman or craftsmen worked during and after Yongzheng’s relatively brief, 13-year reign, such that they may have been responsible also for the pouch-shaped vases ordered by the Qianlong Emperor in his third and fifth year on the throne. Regardless, the enamelled glass pouch-shaped vase in question, dating from the early-Qianlong period, shows clear stylistic continuity with the Yongzheng period, particularly in the pictorial rendition of the flowing clouds and in the peach-shaped cartouche.

The Daoguang-period Furnishing Archives records only four enamelled glass vessels, one dating from the Kangxi reign and three from the Qianlong reign. Currently in the collection of the National Palace Museum, Taipei, the latter three consist of a meiping vase with flowers and the “three auspicious symbols”; a double gourd vase; and an eight-lobed vase.19 Why is the pouch-shaped vase in question, undoubtedly also a masterpiece of Qianlong enamelware, absent in the Furnishing Archives? The Furnishing Archives recorded only vessels present within the Forbidden City in the 15 year of the Daoguang reign, omitting the considerable furnishings in other gardens and palaces such as the Shenyang Palace and the Bishu Shanzhuang. Published furnishing archives of the Yiheyuan and the Jingmingyuan also do not mention pouch-shaped vases. Another consideration is that many vessels were given to imperial relatives. The peony and phoenix patterns on the vase in question indicate that only Qianlong’s mother and consorts had sufficient status to use it, suggesting that it was possibly Qianlong’s gift to his birth mother Empress Xiaoshengxian for her 50th birthday. 20 The information provided by Sotheby’s indicates that the vase was first recorded in the collection of Prince Gong.

Baofu, Chinese for “pouch”, is an auspicious homophone of “containing good fortune”. As a decorative motif, the pouch became popular during the Yongzheng reign, as evidenced by a pouch-shaped black lacquer box with gold outline painting currently at the Palace Museum, Beijing (p. 16, fig. 4). Although this work bears no reign mark, it can be dated to the Yongzheng reign by court records. There are pouch-shaped vases bearing Yongzheng reign marks. The Qianlong period also produced pouch-shaped vases and boxes. The Palace Museum contains zitan pouch-shaped boxes. Pouches more often appear in the form of decorative motifs, as in the yangcai pouch-shaped vase with sash in the Guimet Museum; and the white porcelain, enamelled copper, and translucent enamel pouch-shaped vases with sashes in the Palace Museum, Beijing (fig. 15), as well as the cloisonné double-vase in the same collection. It is clear from the above examples that the pouch, as both a vessel form and as a decorative motif, was much beloved by the Qing imperial family for its auspicious symbolism. Likewise, the dancing phoenix and the peony were motifs with beloved auspicious meanings. A symbol of femininity, the phoenix appeared in Chinese artefacts throughout history and, as suggested by the Chinese saying “the dragon soars and the phoenix dances”, was commonly paired with the dragon, a symbol of the emperor. Other examples of the pairing of the phoenix and the peony in the Palace Museum collection include a chrysanthemum-shaped lacquer basin carved and filled with gold design and with a Jiajing reign mark; a carved red lacquer bowl with a Qianlong reign mark (fig. 16); and an embroidered cotton woman’s robe dating to the Qianlong period (fig. 17). The vivid depictions of phoenix on all these precious artefacts are aesthetically pleasing and visually striking.

fig. 15. Painted enamel pouch-shaped vase with gold applique, mark and period of Qianlong. © Collection of the Palace Museum, Beijing.

fig. 16. Carved red lacquer bowl, mark and period of Qianlong. © Collection of the Palace Museum, Beijing.

fig. 17. Embroidered cotton woman’s robe (detail), Qing dynasty, Qianlong period. © Collection of the Palace Museum, Beijing.

The 'Yi and Ji' chapter of the ancient classic Shang shu [Classic of History] contains the line, “When the nine parts of the service, as arranged by the Di, have all been performed, the male and female phoenix come with their measured gamboling (into the court).” The mythical empress of all birds, the phoenix bestows good fortune upon us as we admire her grace and beauty.

Sotheby's. An Enamelled Jewel The Le Cong Tang Collection, Hong Kong, 08 October 2019