A VERY FINE CARVED CELADON 'BAJIXIANG' VASE SEAL MARK AND PERIOD OF QIANLONG

the body of broad shouldered baluster shape rising from a short spreading foot to a short waisted neck and everted rim, finely carved around the exterior with the bajixiang amidst ruyi-head clouds and bats, all between lotus-lappet and ruyi bands at the base and collar, the neck similarly carved and set with a pair of pierced archaistic dragon handles, covered overall with a bluish-green glaze draining to a white tone at the rim and edges of the handles

This vase is exceptional in its magnificent celadon glaze, deep relief design and unusual form. It is rare to find Qianlong celadon-glazed vases with such elaborate decoration and the present piece displays the very high level of quality achieved by artists working at the imperial kilns at Jingdezhen. Tang Ying, superintendent at Jingdezhen during the early part of Qianlong's reign, strove for technical and artistic perfection. Wares produced under his supervision were renowed for their stylistic variety and exceptional quality. Archaic bronzes and jades often supplied models for Qing porcelain decoration, and the present vase is an outstanding example of how an archaic form was  adapted and combined with contemporary design. The composition of the design is carefully laid out and masterfully orchestrated to represent a prime example of the luxurious and ornate Qianlong style.

The decoration found on this vase appears to be unusual although celadon vases of this form and style are known decorated with highly stylised archaistic dragons in relief, such as the piece sold in our Hong Kong rooms, 2nd May 2005, lot 512. See also a vase decorated with entwined lotus scrolls and bats in similar high relief, from the A.E. Hippisley collection, sold at Anderson Galleries, New York, 30th January 1925, lot 249, perhaps the same piece as later sold in our Hong Kong rooms, 20th May 1987, lot 488, and at Christie's New York, 3rd June 1988, lot 282.

For other examples of this sophisticated group of Qianlong celadon-glazed wares decorated in high relief see, for example, the 'birthday' vase in the Baur collection decorated with three rows of shou characters, illustrated in John Ayers, Chinese Ceramics in the Baur Collection, vol. II, Geneva, 1999, pl. 295, and also used as the cover illustration. Compare also the Fonthill jar, superbly carved with a single dragon, sold in our Hong Kong rooms, 17th May 1988, lot 75;  a flattened ovoid vase set with tubular handles, also sold in our Hong Kong rooms, 24th May 1978, lot 239, and a handled moonflask carved with a single frontal leaping dragon, sold in our Hong Kong rooms, 20th May 1981, lot 806, and again, 1st November 1999, lot 356.

The sophistication and deliberate employment in the Yongzheng and early Qianlong periods of carefully variated types of celadon glaze to achieve quite different aesthetic results would seem to reflect these emperor's particular interest in this glaze colour. It was possible only with the greatest precision in handling the raw material and complete mastery of the firing process. The specific celadon glaze used for vases with high relief decoration is generally bright sea-green, which Chinese connoisseurs designate as douqing (bean-green), which achieves a distinct contrast between the ground and the relief designs. The much praised bluish-green celadon glaze known as fenqing characteristic of early Qianlong wares would not have brought out the design so clearly, because of its paleness. It was generally applied to undecorated or nearly plain pieces.