A rare imperially inscribed jade-inlaid carved cinnabar lacquer wall vase, Qing dynasty, Qianlong period | 清乾隆 剔紅花卉紋嵌玉御製詩轎瓶

Collection of Dr Wou Kiuan (1910-1997). 

Wou Lien-Pai Museum, coll. no. Q.J.111.

吳權博士 (1910-1997) 收藏

吳蓮伯博物院，編號Q.J.111

Wall vases were made mostly in porcelain and examples made in carved cinnabar lacquer are very rare. Compare a pair of wall vases in the National Palace Museum, Taipei, included in the museum's exhibition The Enchanting Splendor of Vases and Planters: A Special Exhibition of Flower Vessels from the Ming and Qing Dynasties, 2014, pl. II-48; an example carved with kui dragons and phoenix, inlaid with an elliptical celadon jade panel inscribed in gilt with an imperial poem, from the collection of Roger Keverne, sold in our Hong Kong rooms, 5th October 2016, lot 21. See also cinnabar lacquer wall vases carved with various designs surrounding a reserve panel containing imperial inscriptions in gilt, such as one of double gourd form, sold in our New York rooms, 17th September 2016, lot 971; another of baluster form, sold at Christie's London, 15th May 2007, lot 112.

The poem is recorded in Qing Gaozong yuzhi shiwen quanji [Anthology of Imperial Qianlong Poems and Texts], vol. 3, juan 58, p. 19, fig. 1, and can be translated as follow:

Jade carved into flowers are fragrant like orchids;

Between the garden steps, a few are elegantly planted.

Who knows their essential beauty?

Youdu, once asked this, answered with "Xie An".