This unusual vase is especially rich in its design and choice of palette, with floral scrolls finely painted in colourful enamels over a striking black ground. Although colour-ground porcelain was popular during the Qing dynasty, black-ground wares are comparatively rare. This type of design was peculiar to the Yongzheng period and is also found on a few dishes inscribed with the reign mark. See, for example, one preserved in the Victoria and Albert Museum (accession no. 585-1907) .

Three closely related vases are known, including one exhibited at the International Exhibition of Chinese Art, Royal Academy of Arts, London, 1935-6, cat. no. 2266, illustrated in R.L. Hobson, The Later Ceramic Wares of China, London, 1925, pl. LIX, fig. 2, sold twice in our London rooms, 25th June 1936, lot 91 and 5th July 1977, lot 257; and a pair sold in our New York rooms, 1st December 1992, lot 349.

Compare also a few vases of slightly different form with similar scrolling branches on a black ground; one taller baluster vase, but of a more slender ovoid form and lacking the spreading foot, preserved in the Victoria and Albert Museum, London (accession no. C.1114-1910); a pear-shaped vase, with a slender cylindrical neck and lacking the painted border around its slightly tapering foot, sold in our New York rooms, 11th September 2019, lot 933; and three bottle vases similar to the latter but without a flaring rim: a pair sold in our London rooms, 7th November 1946, lot 71; the third vase sold at Christie's London, 6th December 1993, lot 124.

墨地五彩纏枝觀音尊，番蓮紋飾雅緻脫俗，墨地綠彩相互襯映，佈局疏朗悅目。清瓷雖常見彩地，墨地者少，僅見於雍正朝，書年款者寥寥，唯知數盤，如倫敦維多利亞與艾伯特博物館藏一例（藏品編號：585-1907）。

現知三件近例，其一展出於《參加倫敦中國藝術國際展覽會出品圖說》，英國皇家藝術學院，倫敦，1935-1936年，編號2266，並刊於 R.L. Hobson，《The Later Ceramic Wares of China》，倫敦，1925年，圖版 LIX，圖2，曾二售於倫敦蘇富比，1936年6月25日，編號91，及1977年7月5日，編號257。另者為成對，1992年12月1日售於紐約蘇富比，編號349。

亦見紋飾相類，器形相異者，如一件較高瓷尊，器形更纖長，無撇足，藏於倫敦維多利亞與艾伯特博物館（藏品編號：1114-1910）；另一件長頸瓶，圈足微歛，售於紐約蘇富比2019年9月11日，編號933；還有三例直口長頸瓶，一對售於倫敦1946年11月7日，編號71，第三例售於倫敦佳士得，1993年12月6日，編號124。