Important Chinese Art
Important Chinese Art
A RARE LARGE CLOISONNE ENAMEL 'FISH' BASIN QING DYNASTY, QIANLONG PERIOD | 清乾隆 掐絲琺瑯鹿鶴魚藻紋大缸
Auction Closed
November 6, 06:16 PM GMT
Estimate
80,000 - 120,000 GBP
Lot Details
Description
A RARE LARGE CLOISONNE ENAMEL 'FISH' BASIN
QING DYNASTY, QIANLONG PERIOD
清乾隆 掐絲琺瑯鹿鶴魚藻紋大缸
with deep slightly flaring sides and flat base, decorated to the interior with large brightly coloured carp, small fish, toads and crustaceans swimming amidst aquatic plants, all reserved against a rich turquoise-blue ground, the exterior decorated with deer and cranes scattered a rocky landscape set with a river and gnarled trees, the base with florets reserved on a rich dark-blue ground
Diameter 62 cm, 24⅜ in.
An American private collection.
Sotheby's New York, 1st and 2nd December 1992, lot 167.
The Mandel Collection.
Christie's Hong Kong, 30th May 2012, lot 3910.
美國私人收藏
紐約蘇富比1992年12月1至2日，編號167
文德爾伉儷收藏
香港佳士得2012年5月30日, 編號3910
This magnificent large basin shows the renewed interest in cloisonné enamel during the Qianlong period (r. 1736-1795). Under the Qianlong emperor, the palette was expanded to more than twenty opaque colours, several introduced by Jesuit artists, enabling craftsmen to compose lavish and vibrantly coloured designs, as demonstrated on the present vessel.
The designs on the exterior and interior of the present vessel are very different in character but both rich in auspicious symbolism. The idyllic landscapes on the exterior depicting cranes (lu), deer (he), and gnarled pine trees, popular emblems of long life, create the phrase helu tongchun (May husband and wife enjoy spring together); while the interior scene of boldly coloured fish (yu), a symbol of abundance, swimming in water (shui) form the rebus yushui hexie (May you be as harmonious as fish and water).
Few examples of this size and quality are known. Compare a closely related example in the Pierre Uldry collection, included in the exhibition Chinesisches Cloisonné. Die Sammlung Pierre Uldry, Rietberg Museum, Zurich, 1985, cat. no. 322; two other examples sold at Christie’s Paris, one from the Juan Jose Amezaga et Maria Dolores Feijoo collection, 7th December 2007, lot 38, and the second, 9th June 2015, lot 58; another example sold at Christie’s Hong Kong, 30th May 2018, lot 3039. See also a related basin, but the exterior predominantly decorated in white, from the Avery Brundage collection and now in the Asian Art Museum of San Francisco, San Francisco, was included in the exhibition Cloisonné. Chinese Enamels from the Yuan, Ming, and Qing Dynasties, the Bard Graduate Center: Decorative Arts, Design History, Material Culture, New York, 2011, cat. no. 113.