A FINELY ENAMELLED YELLOW-GROUND 'FAMILLE-ROSE' JAR AND COVER SEAL MARK AND PERIOD OF JIAQING

THIS IS A PREMIUM LOT.   CLIENTS WHO WISH TO BID ON PREMIUM LOTS ARE REQUESTED TO COMPLETE THE PREMIUM LOT PRE-REGISTRATION 3 WORKING DAYS PRIOR TO THE SALE.




of finely potted ovoid form rising to a waisted neck and lipped rim, the body superbly painted in meticulous detail with plump melons in iron-red, black, green, lime-green, pastel-blue and pink, hanging from intertwining vines issuing from knobbly branches interspersed with small yellow and pink blossoms, broad leaves in two shades of green and curling tendrils, with delicate butterflies fluttering at various altitudes, either alone or confronted, their wings finely pencilled and shaded in tones of light pastel-pink, lavender, lilac and green, all against a bright lemon-yellow ground, set between a band of ruyi heads at the rim and upright lappets at the foot, the mouthrim with a classic gilt scroll, the cover similarly decorated with further butterflies and melons amid foliage around a bud knop, with a floral scroll at the rim, the interior and base turquoise, with a central square reserved in white for the base for the six-character seal-mark in iron-red

Acquired in France.

It is rare to find Jiaqing jars of this colourful and auspicious design, although a similar pair of vases with their covers, from the Alfred Morrison collection, was sold at Christie's London, 9th November 2004, lot 44. The motif of butterflies and gourds are a favourite design on Chinese enamelled wares; see a Jiaqing doucai vase included in The Complete Collection of Treasures of the Palace Museum. Porcelains in Polychrome and Contrasting Colours, Hong Kong, 1999, pl. 262; a sky-blue ground meiping, less sparsely decorated with the design of butterflies and melon and with the melons painted in the two palettes of iron-red and green, in the Shanghai Museum, illustrated in Chugoku toji zenshu, vol. 21, Shanghai, 1981, pl. 125; and a Qianlong celadon-ground famille rose vase with this motif sold in these rooms, 31st October 2004, lot 140.

Butterfly (die) and gourds (gua) represent the wish for many sons and grandsons (guadie mianmian). The thousands of seeds found in gourds symbolize the wish for ceaseless generations of descendants. According to Teresa Tse Bartholomew in Hidden Meanings in Chinese Art, San Francisco, 2006, p. 62, the term 'guadie mianmian' comes from the Book of Odes which is one of the earliest collections of Chinese poetry.