Vase meiping en porcelaine à décor rouge de cuivre Chine, dynastie Qing, époque Qianlong (1736-1795)

la panse tubulaire allant en s'élargissant vers l'épaulement en forme d'un dôme surmonté d'un col étroit légèrement évasé, à décor en rouge sous couverte des huit objets précieux bajixiang parmi des nuages stylisés, l'épaulement habillé d'une frise de tête de ruyi et lambrequins et souligné d'une frise de grecques, le pied entouré de palmes végétales stylisées et le col de fleurs de lotus et frise de grecques

Sotheby's Hong Kong, 26th November 1980, lot 319. 

The present vase is special for its form which appears to combine two well-known shapes, the taibo zun and the meiping. No other similar example appears to be recorded making this piece unique among the Qing potters' repertoire. Even the design is unusual, although certain elements can be found on both underglaze-red and blue-and-white vases of the Qianlong period. Compare, for example, an underglaze-red meiping with similar florets encircling the neck and the main body finely painted with large medallions of tasselled chimes suspended from canopies, formerly in the Richard C. Bull Collection, sold in our New York rooms, 4^th June 1985, lot 174. A related band of interlocking upright lappets can be found painted around the lower section of a blue-and white meiping, from the collection of Sir Harry and Lady Garner, included in the exhibition Chinese and Japanese Ceramics from the Collection of Sir Harry and Lady Garner, Bluett and Sons Ltd., London, 1973, cat.no. 47, and sold twice at Christie's Hong Kong, 1^st November 2004, lot 853, and 1^st December 2009, lot 1886. Interestingly, the same bajixiang motif amongst stylized lingzhi-shaped clouds features as the main decoration on an underglaze-red double-gourd vase sold in our Hong Kong rooms, 29^th April 1997, lot 642.