A rare blue-ground gilt-decorated 'lotus' handled square vase, Mark and period of Xianfeng | 清咸豐 藍地描金蓮紋獸首銜環方瓶 《大清咸豐年製》款

This charming vase belongs to a special group of vessels decorated with gilt-paint on a rich blue ground, in which it is extremely rare to find a Xianfeng example. Compare a similar Qianlong mark and period blue-ground gilt-decorated meiping from the National Palace Museum, exhibited in Good Fortune, Long Life, Health, and Peace: A Special Exhibition of Porcelains with Auspicious Designs, National Palace Museum, Taipei, 1995, cat. no. 30; another closely related wall vase, attributed to Qianlong / Jiaqing period, sold at Christie's New York, 19th September 2007, lot 411; see also a similar Jiaqing mark and period ganlanping, sold in our Hong Kong rooms, 22nd April 2021, lot 3619.