Lot 45: A MASSIVE FAMILLE-ROSE LIME-GREEN-GROUND SGRAFFITO VASE WITH DRAGON HANDLES Qianlong/Jiaqing

A MASSIVE FAMILLE-ROSE LIME-GREEN-GROUND
SGRAFFITO VASE WITH DRAGON HANDLES

Qianlong/Jiaqing

With globular body and tall spreading foot, decorated all over with a pale lime-green glaze with a finely incised, dense
sgraffito ground, one side depicting a spring scene with two brightly-feathered pheasants atop pierced
taihu rockwork amidst large peony blossoms and beneath a blossoming magnolia tree, the other side decorated with an autumn scene with a central vertical
taihu rockwork issuing chrysanthemum,
lingzhi, begonia, and asters beneath a sparsely-leafed tree, the flaring trumpet neck divided on each side by iron-red and gilt
chilong handles, the neck interior turquoise glazed and the rim gilt, all supported on a wide unglazed rounded foot and flat base.


27in (68.6cm) high

Generally, in excellent overall condition. There are some minor glaze flakes, presumably from firing, where the green glaze meets the biscuit foot. A few other small glaze imperfections and iron spots but unobtrusive. Some surface wear to neck interior. Extremely bright enamels and painted with great strength and spirit. Highly recommended.

清乾隆/嘉慶 綠地粉彩軋道錦雞花石圖螭龍耳瓶



Please note this Lot is to be sold at No Reserve. 本拍品不設底價




Provenance:

Samuel Putnam Avery (1822-1904), New York

Purchase by subscription, 1879

The Metropolitan Museum of Art, 1879-present




來源：

Samuel Putnam Avery (1822-1904)，紐約

會費購藏，1879 年

大都會藝術博物館，1879 年迄今



The present lot is unique of its type for its large size and the finely molded handles. Other examples of this green-ground
sgraffiato type are much smaller. See for example a related but smaller famille-rose lime-green
sgraffiato-ground baluster vase, 18th/19th century, also from the Samuel Putnam Avery Collection and The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, which was sold at Christie's New York, 15 September 2016, lot 997. See a smaller famille-rose
sgraffiato green-ground vase, Qianlong seal mark and probably late in the period, which was sold at Bonhams London, 16 May 2013, lot 89, and a globular bottle vase, also Qianlong marked and illustrated by Ronald and Juliana Chao,
Our Encounter with Ceramics, Zhejiang University, Hangzhou, 2018, p.102, no.089.



The choice of plants and birds on the present lot is laden with auspicious meaning. The pheasant was a symbol of good fortune and often took the place of the phoenix in symbolic decoration. Pheasants and birds in particular were also connected to the rank badges worn by the ten ranks of the civil service; rank badges with pheasants were worn by civil servants of the second highest rank. The peony too was a symbol of wealth and prosperity and is sometimes known as the 'flower of riches and honor' (
fugui hua 富貴花).



The motif of pheasant and peony with magnolias was typical of the mid-Qing period and can often be found on famille-rose decoration. See for example, a famille-rose plate decorated with a similar design of pheasant, peony, and magnolia, Yongzheng period, illustrated in
The Complete Collection of the Treasures of the Palace Museum: Porcelains with Cloisonné Enamel Decoration and Famille Rose Decoration, Shanghai, 2009, p.76, no.66. See also Soame Jenyns,
Later Chinese Porcelain, London, 1965, pl.CVI, no.1, for a Qianlong period pink-ground
sgraffiato vase with long-tailed birds amidst flowers and tree branches from the famed Morrison Collection.



For another comparable large vase (32in high) of very similar form painted with phoenix in a peony landscape but with underglaze blue decoration at the neck and foot, see Sotheby's New York, 17 September 1998, lot 260.

This lot is subject to the following lot symbols: ¤