A rare moulded gourd bottle vase, Shangwan mark and period of Qianlong | 清乾隆 匏製卷草紋瓶 《乾隆賞玩》款

Appreciated by the court and literati for its humble origin and association with the symbolism of Daoist paradise, gourd objects have a long tradition in Chinese history. During the Kangxi period, the technique of gourd moulding flourished with the Emperor’s commissioning of such vessels to be crafted in the Palace Workshop. Immediately, this folk art was transformed into an imperial art form. Even the gourds to be used for such vessels were grown in the Fengze Garden opposite the Forbidden City. It again experienced a revival under the Qianlong Emperor, the products of which were characteristically light to the touch, pleasing to the eye and evocative of nature. The mark Qianlong shangwan ('appreciated by the Qianlong Emperor') appears to have been reserved for an exclusive group of gourd vessels commissioned by the Emperor for his personal enjoyment and collection. According to Wang Shixiang in The Charms of the Gourd, Hong Kong, 1993, p. 199, the present style of mark in relief around the spherical body is a very rare type; see another vase with this mark, published ibid., pl. 20; and another sold in these rooms, 15th November 1989, lot 497.

Further moulded gourd vessels with a related mark, but on the base, include an octagonal brushpot, from the Walter Sedgwick collection, sold twice in our London rooms, 2nd July 1968, lot 47, and 24th February 1970, lot 106, and a third time in these rooms, 8th October 2009, lot 1806, from the Water Pine and Stone Retreat collection; and a double-gourd vase of square section, from the Water, Pine and Stone Retreat collection, sold in these rooms, 3rd October 2017, lot 3010.