A RARE FACETTED FAMILLE-ROSE 'FLORAL' WALL VASE SEAL MARK AND PERIOD OF JIAQING

well modelled with a triangular body rising from a slightly splayed foot to a flared rim of corresponding section, the body decorated with two rectangular cartouches, each framing a scene of floral blooms, one decorated with a pond with lotus blooms and large lotus leaves borne on long stems, the other with various flowers, including large peonies, issuing from thin leafy stems, the scene further depicted with jagged rockwork, all bordered by floral scrolls against a lime-green ground, all between white-ground bands of lotus blooms picked out in puce along the rim and foot, the reverse of the vessel covered with a lime-green glaze and pierced with three connected apertures, the interior and base enamelled turquoise, the latter with a horizontal iron-red six-character seal mark within a white cartouche

Modelled as a segmented cong vase, this vase was probably made at the beginning of the Jiaqing reign, when the Qianlong Emperor’s eclectic taste continued to exert much influence in the productions of imperial artefacts. A further characteristic of the Qianlong style is evident in the painting of the floral cartouches over the green ground decorated with floral scrolls, a popular design of Qianlong period vases.

Wall vases of the Jiaqing period were produced in an array of shapes and designs; see one of ovoid form, similarly painted with floral cartouches against a green ground, sold at Christie’s London, 22nd July 1981, lot 198; and one of rectangular section with a turquoise ground, in the Capital Museum, Beijing, illustrated in The Complete Works of Chinese Ceramics, vol. 15, Shanghai, 2000, pl. 130. Compare also a Qianlong mark and period wall vase painted with floral cartouches, in the Huaihaitang collection, included in the exhibition Ethereal Elegance. Porcelain Vases of the Imperial Qing, Art Museum, The Chinese University of Hong Kong, Hong Kong, 2007, cat. no. 130, together with another pair, cat. no. 132.

Wall vases first appeared in the Ming dynasty, although their popularity increased dramatically in the eighteenth century when they were made in a variety of media. Flattened at the back as through cut in half and often made in pairs, these vases were commonly hung inside sedan chairs, as depicted in the hand scroll An Ice Game by Jin Kun, Cheng Zhidao and Fu Longan, in the Palace Museum, Beijing, illustrated in The Complete Collection of Treasures of the Palace Museum. Paintings by the Court Artists of the Qing Court, Hong Kong, 1996, pl. 61.