A rare blue and white 'longevity' vase (Fanghu), Seal mark and period of Qianlong

Singapore Private Collection, acquired circa 1995 (by repute).

Offered at Sotheby's London, 10th November 2004, lot 614. 

Delicately painted on an imposing archaic form, the present lot is a marvelous example of imperial blue-and-white porcelain from the Qianlong period. This piece of delicate floral design is not just visually pleasing, but is also rife with auspicious symbolism. 

Unlike the more simply decorated blue-and-white fanghu vases of the Yongzheng period – see a possible prototype from the Qing Court Collection, illustrated in The Complete Collection of Treasures of the Palace Museum: Blue and White Porcelain with Underglazed Red (III)), Hong Kong, 2000, pl. 100 – the present vase features a series of other decorative motifs, each serving as a symbol of longevity and good fortune. Beyond the explicit use of the shou character (lit. 'longevity') at the center of the scrolling lotus blooms, the vase also features groups of five bats (wufu), adorning the central panels as a rebus for the 'five blessings' (also pronounced wufu) of health, wealth, longevity, virtue and a peaceful death, as well as peaches which have long been associated in the Chinese tradition with longevity, as has the Buddhist wanzi symbol included at the very center of the design. 

An almost identical vase of this auspicious design was sold in our Hong Kong rooms, 10th April 2006, lot 1678. Likely reproduced on a number of celebratory occasions, this type of vase has a small number of well-attested variations. Compare a slightly smaller (ca. 30 cm) variation of this type, with abstract cloud-scroll borders and an exotic flower design to the neck; see an example preserved in the Palace Museum, Taipei, illustrated in Porcelain of the National Palace Museum: Blue and White Ware of the Ch'ing Dynasty, vol. II, Hong Kong, 1968, pl. 13; another sold in our Hong Kong rooms, 12th May 1976, lot 112; and another sold at Christie's Hong Kong, 30th May 2006, lot 1403. In contrast, a very similar group of larger (ca. 50 cm) vases is also known, including one sold in our Hong Kong rooms, 29th November 1977, lot 205; and another in these rooms, 30th May 1990, lot 167.