An inscribed cloisonné enamel archaistic vessel (Jue), Qing dynasty, 18th century | 清十八世紀 銅胎掐絲琺瑯仿古爵

Adapting the archaic jue form from bronze vessels, the present jue is quite rare and few comparable examples are known. This reinvention of the jue in cloisonné enamel seems to have been a practice even before the Qing dynasty; see a Ming dynasty version in the Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York (accession no. 29.110.25). For 18th century examples, compare a pair of closely related form but of slightly different decoration, illustrated in Claudia Brown, Chinese Cloisonné: The Clague Collection, Phoenix, 1980, pl. 60. See also one attributed to Qianlong period, in the Museum of Decorative Arts, Paris, illustrated in Béatrice Quette, ed., Cloisonné: Chinese Enamels from the Yuan, Ming, and Qing Dynasties, New York, 2011, p. 86, fig. 5.8. Compare also one sold at Christie's New York, 27th November 2005, lot 1496.