A rare cloisonné enamel 'landscape' cong-form vase, Qing dynasty, 18th century

Collection of Alfred de Rothschild (1842-1918), displayed in the Billard Room, Halton House, Buckinghamshire.

Collection of Lionel de Rothschild (1882-1942).

Collection of Edmund de Rothschild (1916-2009).

The Trustees of Exbury House.

Woolley & Wallis Salisbury, 5th October 2022, lot 172.

Rothschild Archive, London, Manuscript 000/174/C/3, Christie, Manson & Woods Probate Valuation of the Estate of Alfred C. de Rothschild, Esq. C.V.O. Deceased, Halton House Tring, 1918, listed as 'A pair of Chinese cloisonne enamel vases of square shape decorated with river scenes on turquoise ground, Kein Lung, £40.0.0.'

Derived from the cong form of Neolithic jades, combining the square of Earth with the circle of Heaven, the present vase exemplifies the fine tastes and reverence for antiquity of the Qianlong Emperor (r. 1736–1795). A smaller but closely related cloisonné vase of cong form, from the Qing Court Collection, preserved in the Palace Museum, Beijing, similarly enamelled with pavilions in a landscape, is illustrated in The Complete Collection of Treasures of the Palace Museum. Metal-bodied Enamel Ware, Hong Kong, 2002, pl. 145; and another, of the present size, from the Collection of Gordon and Rosemary Fryers was sold at Christie’s Paris, 22nd June 2016, lot 285.