An exceptionally rare cloisonné enamel 'bats and clouds' vase, Qing dynasty, Qianlong period | 清乾隆 銅胎掐絲琺瑯雲蝠紋雙耳瓶

An exceptionally rare cloisonné enamel 'bats and clouds' vase

Qing dynasty, Qianlong period 

清乾隆 銅胎掐絲琺瑯雲蝠紋雙耳瓶

the globular body rising from a tall spreading foot to a flaring waisted neck and a gilt galleried rim, the neck set with two mythical beast-form handles, the body intricately enameled with sixteen bats in flight, each meticulously picked out in red, pink, yellow and green enamels, amidst blue ruyi-shaped clouds, encircled above by a band of pendent bats and interlocking C-scrolls at the shoulder, and below by a band of lappets enclosing lotus blooms, repeated and interlocking at the foot, the neck with ten further bats in predominantly blue, pink and red enamels amidst shaded green-enameled foliate scrolls, framed below by a band of upright bats, with further interlocking lappets above encircling the rim, all reserved on a turquoise ground

Height 15 ½ in., 39.3 cm