A VERY RARE UNDERGLAZE-BLUE, FAMILLE-ROSE AND GILT-DECORATED 'BOYS MEDALLION' VASE, QIANLONG SEAL MARK AND PERIOD | 清乾隆 青花描金粉彩開光嬰戲圖小瓶 《大清乾隆年製》款

Collection of Stephen Junkunc, III (d. 1978).

Christie's New York, 21st September 1995, lot 260.

史蒂芬•瓊肯三世（1978年逝）收藏

紐約佳士得1995年9月21日，編號260

Exquisitely painted with two lively scenes of boys playing against a luxuriant underglaze-blue and gilt lotus scroll, this vase is an archetypal example of imperial porcelain made in the Qianlong reign. Each figurative roundel is meticulously painted, and the craftsmen has skilfully captured the children's carefree spirit through their joyful expressions and animated poses. Depictions of boys at play, which represent the wish for many sons, proliferated on porcelain during the reign of the Qianlong Emperor, as he was particularly fond of auspicious and amusing designs.

Yingxitu (pictures of boys at play) and baizitu (pictures of hundred boys) are intimately connected with the strong desire for male offspring, who would perform ancestral sacrifices and thus endure the continuation of the family line. Depictions of children in gardens became an established painting genre in the Song dynasty (960-1279), and by the Ming period (1368-1644) boys were depicted engaged in activities that also conveyed auspicious messages or that impersonated adult aspirations. The two scenes on this vase depict the boys playing with goldfish and butterflies, which represent prosperity, wealth and longevity. Goldfish (jinyu) are homophonous with the word for gold (jin) and jade (yu), and together with lotus and boys they convey the wish liannian youyu (May you continuously have plenty year after year). Butterflies on the other hand are symbolic of longevity, and often appear on contemporary paintings and woodblock illustrations, such as the anonymous album leaf from the collection of Charles Lang Freer, now in the Freer Sackler Gallery Galleries, Smithsonian Institution, Washington D.C., accession n. F1909.244K.

The two figurative roundels on this vase are set against a lotus scroll embellished with gilt reminiscent of cloisonné enamel ware, where the different enamels are separated by fine copper wires. While this technique was seldom used, it is found on a much larger hexagonal vase similarly decorated with boys in panels, sold in our Hong Kong rooms, 7th April 2015, lot 3616. See also a Qianlong mark and period perfumier with butterflies in underglaze-blue and overglaze gilt, in the Palace Museum Beijing, illustrated in The Complete Collection of Treasures of the Palace Museum: Miscellaneous Enamelled Porcelains and Plain Tricoloured Porcelains, Shanghai, 2009, pl. 143. 

While no other closely related vase appears to have been published, vases painted with figurative cartouches are known; a Qianlong mark and period vase with boys against a yellow ground, in the Palace Museum, Beijing, is illustrated in The Complete Collection of Treasures of the Palace Museum: Porcelains with Cloisonné Enamel Decoration and Famille Rose Decoration, Hong Kong, 1999, pl. 27; a lobed vase with the panels against a celadon ground, is illustrated in Sekai tōji zenshū/ Catalogue of World's Ceramics, vol. 12, Tokyo, 1956, pl. 90; and another was sold in our Hong Kong rooms, 29th November 1977, lot 165.

本瓶紋飾刻劃兩小兒嬉戲，描金蓮紋華麗雍雅，實乃乾隆御瓷佳例。紋飾繪工精細，傳神捕捉小兒生動神態，乾隆喜愛吉祥紋飾，如本瓶之嬰戯圖瓷器，亦流行於乾隆年間。

嬰戯圖及百子圖，與重生男丁，以延續血脈之傳統有關。宋代開始，刻劃小兒嬉戯於庭院間之紋飾開始廣泛流行，時至明代，紋飾又再演變，以畫中小兒活動增添吉祥寓意，融合長輩心願。小兒戯金魚，寓意連年有餘，蝴蝶，則祝願長壽，見於同期書畫及木刻，比較一幅佚名例，出自Charles Lang Freer收藏，現藏於Freer Sackler Gallery，Smithsonian Institution，華盛頓D.C.，館藏編號F1909.244K。

本瓶厚施描金，以仿掐絲，後者以銅絲分隔顔彩。如本瓶之描金紋飾甚爲罕見，可參考一件清乾隆青釉浮雕吉慶有餘青花描金粉彩嬰戲圖八方瓶，尺寸遠較本瓶為大，售於香港蘇富比2015年4月7日，編號3616。北京故宮博物院收藏一例，乾隆年器並款，飾釉下青花描金蝴蝶紋飾，載於《故宮博物院藏文物珍品大系．雜釉彩．素三彩》，上海，2009年，圖版143。

本瓶珍稀，據現時記載並無他例可比，唯可比較其他開光人物紋飾瓶例，北京故宮博物院收藏一黃地瓶例，乾隆年器並款，圖載於《故宮博物院藏文物珍品大系．琺瑯彩．粉彩》，香港，1999年，圖版27；另比一例，圖載於《世界陶磁全集》，卷12，東京，圖版90；另一例售於香港蘇富比1977年11月29日，編號165。