A rare blue-ground gilt-decorated 'lotus' vase, ganlanping Seal mark and period of Jiaqing | 清嘉慶 藍地描金蓮紋橄欖瓶 《大清嘉慶年製》款

An English collection, by repute.

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This charming vase belongs to a special group of vessels decorated with gilt-paint on a rich blue ground. This type of wares first appeared in the Kangxi reign, and continued to be produced in the Qianlong period, but only on a small number of vessels, all of different shapes and patterns. This type of decoration remained to be favoured during the Jiaqing period. Similar to many other categories, blue-ground gilt-adorned pieces made under Jiaqing’s tutelage retained a lot of the characteristics of Qianlong designs.

Compare a blue-glazed Jiaqing vase of ovoid form with a slender neck and garlic mouth, densely painted with lotus scroll and bajixiang decoration in gold, illustrated in Gunhild Avitabile, From the Dragon's Treasure. Chinese Porcelain from the 19th and 20th Centuries in the Weishaupt Collection, London, 1987, p. 28, pl. 16, where it is noted that “since Buddhist texts are written in gold on blue paper, these two colours have a special significance”. See also a handled vase painted in gilt with archaistic dragons striding amidst lotus scrolls, sold in these rooms, 8th April 2007, lot 510; and another decorated with a continuous vine of gourds, sold at Christie’s Hong Kong, 26th November 2014, lot 3280.

In terms of motifs, the present vase is closely related to contemporaneous vessels executed in different decorative techniques. See, for example, a famille-rose vase painted with stylised lotus scrolls among exuberant foliage in the collection of the Shanghai Museum, illustrated in Zhou Lili, Shanghai bowuguan cangpin yanjiu daxi: Qingdai Yongzheng-Xuantong guanyao ciqi / Qing Dynasty Official Wares from the Yongzheng to Xuantong Reigns, Shanghai, 2014, pl. 5-57.