A fine blue-ground famille-rose 'boys' vase, Qing dynasty, Daoguang period | 清道光 藍地粉彩開光嬰戲圖雙耳瓶 《慎德堂製》款

Private Collection, acquired in New York in 1958.

Sotheby's New York, 15th September 2010, lot 263. 

私人收藏，1958年得於紐約

紐約蘇富比2010年9月15日，編號263

This vase belongs to a special group of imperial porcelains made during the Daoguang reign to furnish the Emperor's newly built 'Hall of Prudent Virtue' (Shendetang). Part of the Jiuzhouqingyan complex in the Yuanming Yuan, the Shendetang was completed in 1831 and became the Emperor’s preferred residence until his death there in 1850. Featuring three connecting wave roofs on a square-shaped structure, the hall was markedly different from the more characteristic Confucian-inspired architecture, a feature that was also reflected in the style of porcelain that was produced for the space. Porcelains bearing Shendetang marks such as the present vase, are often decorated in brilliant colored enamels against rich colored grounds, a style pioneered by the Qianlong Emperor.

The vase is painted with four lively scenes showing numerous boys at play, some chasing butterflies, playing with prunus blossom branches and others holding a ruyi scepter up high or carrying vases together. The dynamic actions of the boys and the delicate renderings of the scene speak to the masterful skill of the craftsmen while the even pale-blue ground and exquisite famille-rose enamels work in union to exude a sense of elegance and subtle opulence. 

See a similar handled vase, also with a Shendetang mark, set against a bright-blue ground with a continuous scene of figures engaged in dragon boat racing, illustrated in Porcelains with Inscription of Shendetang Collected by the Palace Museum, Beijing, 2014, pp 204-207; two painted with a continuous scene of boys setting off firecrackers in celebration of Chinese New Year were sold in these rooms, 28th November 1994, lot 382 and 383, the first with yellow and turquoise-ground flower-scroll borders, and the second with a pink ground and elaborate dragon handles; another pair of pink-ground Shendetang vases was sold in our Hong Kong rooms, 29th-30th November 2018, lot 430; and lastly a further vase but with a Daoguang reign mark and of the period, from the collection of Edward T. Chow, was sold in our Hong Kong rooms, 19th May 1981, lot 597.