A fine and rare ruby-ground famille-rose altar vase, Seal mark and period of Jiaqing | 清嘉慶 粉彩紫地番蓮八吉祥紋賁巴壺 《大清嘉慶年製》款

Sotheby's London, 9th July 1974, lot 419.

Sotheby's Hong Kong, 21st May 1980, lot 235.

Sotheby's Hong Kong, 7th October 2015, lot 3645.

倫敦蘇富比1974年7月9日，編號419

香港蘇富比1980年5月21日，編號235

香港蘇富比2015年10月7日，編號3645

Richly decorated with the bajixiang on a luxurious ruby ground, vases of this form and decoration were first produced during the later Qianlong period in imitation of Tibetan metalwork, for use either in the Lamaist temples in Beijing or as Imperial gifts to visiting Tibetan lamas. A closely related pair from the Fonthill House was sold in Christie's London, 18th October 1971, lot 72; one of which was sold again in these rooms, 14th November 1983, lot 188. A Jiaqing marked yellow-ground example was included in the exhibition Late Chinese Imperial Porcelain, Art Gallery of New South Wales, Sydney, 1980, cat. no. 10.

For Qianlong mark and period prototypes painted with similar designs on different colour grounds, see a coral-ground example sold in these rooms, 5th November 1997, lot 1567; a yellow-ground vase published in Julian Thompson, The Alan Chuang Collection of Chinese Porcelain, Hong Kong, 2009, pl. 112; and a pink-ground example from the Fonthill Heirlooms, illustrated in Hugh Moss, By Imperial Command. An Introduction to Chinese Imperial Painted Enamels, Hong Kong, 1976, pl. 84, sold in these rooms, 20th May 1981, lot 871.

Porcelain vessels of this type derived from metal-bodied Tibetan altar vases, such as the jewelled silver benja pot made for use in one of the Buddhist chapels in the Forbidden City illustrated in Cultural Relics of Tibetan Buddhism Collected in the Qing Palace, Beijing, 1992, pl. 146 (partly concealed by its pleated silk wrapping).

粉彩紫地番蓮八吉祥紋賁巴壺始燒於乾隆朝後期，系仿藏式金屬器而作的法器，用於皇家喇嘛廟或賜予西藏僧侶的禮物。放山居舊藏一相似對例，售於倫敦佳士得1971年10月18日，編號72，其中一瓶後售於香港蘇富比1983年11月14日，編號188。一嘉慶黃地粉彩例曾展於《Late Chinese Imperial Porcelain》，南威爾斯美術館，悉尼，1980年，編號10。

乾隆朝各色地賁巴壺，紅地例售香港蘇富比1997年11月5日，編號1567；黃地例見朱湯生，《中國瓷器—莊紹綏收藏》，香港，2009年，圖版112；粉紅地例源自放山居收藏，見莫士撝，《御製》，香港，1976年，圖版84，售香港蘇富比1981年5月20日，編號871。

瓷胎賁巴壺其器形以西藏金屬法器為藍本，故宮藏一件銀鏨花賁巴壺，為宮中佛堂所用之法器，見《清宮藏傳佛教文物》，北京，1992年，圖版146。