A CLOISONNE ENAMEL LARGE VASE MARK AND PERIOD OF QIANLONG

of modified gu-form, the ovoid body sumounted by a flared neck with slightly everted lip, all on a spreading base with short vertical foot, twin ruyi-head-shaped handles with pendant rings flanking the neck, the body decorated in colorful enamels with symmetrical scrollwork centered by lotus blossoms and with subsidiary blossoms below a border of pendant ruyi-heads, all on a turquoise ground, the neck divided into four registers, the main register decorated with qilong contesting a flaming jewel under leaf lappets, the remaining registers decorated with a variety of symmetrical lotus and floral scrolls, the foot and base with similar floral scrolls and stylised lotus petal lappet border, the underside incised with the four-character mark within a double square

Gerald Hawthorne, Ltd., London.
Acquired from the present owner from the above, November 2000.

It is interesting to note the depiction and synthesis of Ming and early Qing motifs in the decoration of the present vase. The lotus scrolls are portrayed among fine symmetrical scrollwork with scrolling trendrils, unlike the more simplified and robust vines and foliage scrolls found on Ming wares.  The depiction of leaves on the present vase are more closely related to European Baroque foliate scrolls or the foliage found on Qianlong carved jades of Mughal inspiration.  The qilong depicted on the neck refer back to the stylised dragons of the late 16th and early 17th century, but have been further abstracted, blending harmoniously with the stylised scrollwork accompanying the lotus blossoms on the vase.

For a pair of smaller (27.5cm.) vases of similar form with lotus scroll decoration, compare the pair of vases with Qianlong mark and of the period, said to have been made as part of a set of tableware used by the Qianlong Emperor for formal banquets, illustrated in Chuimei Ho and Bennet Bronson, Splendors of China's Forbidden City, The Glorious Reign of Emperor Qianlong, London, 2004, no. 244, p. 199.