A finely decorated imperial gilt-bronze and cloisonné enamel archaistic vase Qing dynasty, Qianlong period, Jingtai mark | 清乾隆 掐絲琺瑯仿古饕餮紋瓶 《景泰年製》款

Another gilt-bronze and cloisonné enamelled archaistic vase from the Qianlong reign, decorated with a shou character and the anbaxian, similarly cast with a jingtai mark on the base sold at Christie's Hong Kong, 28th May 2021, lot 2901. Compare also a small cloisonne enamel archaistic gui, of related proportions and similarly fashioned with taotie, cast with a four character recessed Qianlong mark on the base, sold in these rooms 18th December 2008, lot 63 and at Christie's Hong Kong, 30th May 2012, lot 4021. Compare also the archaistic decoration found on an imperial gilt bronze and cloisonné zun with a cast four-character Qianlong mark, previously in the Alfred Morrison collection at Fonthill house, sold Christie's London, 9th November 2004, and more recently in our Hong Kong rooms, 2nd April 2019, lot 3517. For a Ming dynasty cast Jingtai mark, see a 15th-16th century gilt-bronze and cloisonné enamel deep bowl sold at Christie's New York, 18th September 2014, Lot 606. 

The seven years short Jingtai reign (1450-157) remains the most celebrated period for Chinese cloisonné, just as Xuande (1426-1435) is associated with bronzes and blue-and-white porcelain and Chenghua (1465-1487) is prized for its overglaze enameled porcelains, particularly its doucai enameled wares. In fact, a seventeenth-century text praises "the bronze wares of the Xuande era, porcelain wares of the Chenghua era, lacquer wares of the Yongle era, and Jingtai cloisonné" (Bèatrice Quette, Cloisonne – Chinese Enamels from the Ming and Qing Dynasties, Musée des Arts Décoratifs, Paris, Yale University Press, 2011, p. 155). Well prized by the Emperor Qianlong who was a great admirer of the antique, several vessels bearing this tribute mark were commissioned to the imperial workshops.