CHINESE IMPERIAL CLOISONNÉ ENAMEL 'LOTUS' TOOL VASE
QING DYNASTY, QIANLONG MARK AND OF THE PERIOD
£13,860
Auction: 16 May 2025 from 09:00 BST
Description
清乾隆 「乾隆年製」及「詩」千字文楷書刻款 銅胎掐絲琺瑯番蓮紋瓶
the exterior decorated around the globular body with a leafy lotus scroll bearing three large flower heads in red, blue and yellow, between bands of ruyi heads, the long neck similarly decorated rising to lipped rim, the base incised with a four-character Qianlong mark in a row followed by an additional character, shi
Dimensions
12.5cm high
Provenance
Private Scottish collection; inherited from current owner's grandfather. Illustrated here is the vase (red arrow) with the current owner's grandfather, taken in the early 1940s.
蘇格蘭私人收藏，格拉斯哥；繼承自現任藏家之祖輩。圖示紅箭頭處顯示此瓶與現任藏家之祖父，此照片攝於1940年代初期。
Footnote
The present vase belongs to a group of imperial cloisonné enamel incense instruments that each bears an additional character, and in this instance shi, 'poem', under the reign mark. This extra character is also seen on some other imperial cloisonné and glass wares and believed by some scholars to be a serial number from the Chinese classic Qianziwen, 'The One Thousand Word Essay', with a strong connection to the Imperial Workshops. (See Elegance and Radiance, Grandeur in Qing Glass, Chinese University of Hong Kong, 2000, p. 312)
Two identical vase of this size and modelled with the same unusual protrusion on the lower neck, one inscribed with the additional character, chang, 'long', from the Fryers Collection of Chinese Art, was sold at Christie's London, 15 May 2012, lot 7, the other with the additional character, zan, 'praise', sold at Christie's Hong Kong, 28 Nov 2012, lot 2215. One fractionally smaller (12.3cm) but otherwise identical vase, with the additional character, liang, ‘good’ was sold at Christie's London, 10 Nov 2015, lot 367.
Two related cloisonné enamel vases, slightly different in form and shape, but with the same purpose of this lot and belonging to a group of incense instruments, illustrated with their original insence chopsticks and shovels, Qianlong marks and of the period, one with the additional character, shi, ‘official’, the other with the character, fu, ‘obey’, are in the National Palace Museum, Taipei, accession nos. Zhong Fa 中琺374N and Zhong Fa 中琺1051N.
此瓶原本隸屬於一組御製銅胎掐絲琺瑯香具，其特色在於器物底部陰刻「乾隆年製」橫向四字單行楷款下加刻一字，本例曰「詩」。此加刻款見於其他御製掐絲琺瑯及料器上，部分學者認為此等字為出自《千字文》，稱之爲千字文款，與清宮內務府造辦處有密切關聯。（參見《虹影瑤輝：李景勳藏清代玻璃》，香港中文大學，2000年，頁312）
參兩件高度相似近例，尺寸相同且頸下飾有一圈微凸弦紋，其一加刻「長」千字文款，出自Fryers中國藝術收藏，售於2012年5月15日倫敦佳士得，拍品7；其二加刻「讚」款，售於2012年11月28日香港佳士得，拍品2215。另有一件略小（高12.3厘米）但形制紋飾一致之瓶，加刻「良」款，售於2015年11月10日倫敦佳士得，拍品367。
另參兩件造型略異之掐絲琺瑯瓶，但與本品屬同類香瓶，並配有原裝香箸與鏟，清乾隆款及年代，其一加刻「仕」款，另一加刻「服」款，現藏於台北國立故宮博物院，館藏號「中琺374N」與「中琺1051N」，可資比較。