A VERY RARE IMPERIAL CLOISONNE ENAMEL ARCHAISTIC PHOENIX VASE AND COVER

THE PROPERTY OF A GENTLEMAN

细节

A VERY RARE IMPERIAL CLOISONNE ENAMEL ARCHAISTIC PHOENIX VASE AND COVER
INCISED QIANLONG FOUR-CHARACTER MARK AND OF THE PERIOD

Well modelled after an archaic bronze form, with an archaistic long-tailed phoenix seated on two detachable wheels, the body in greenish-turquoise enriched with brightly coloured daisy meander, the wing and tail feathers blue, iron-red and yellow, supporting on its back between the outstretched wings a pear-shaped vase decorated with a lotus meander, set on one shoulder with a gilt archaistic phoenix handle, all below the domed cover with a mythical beast finial, the four-character nianhao incised on a scroll beneath the belly of the bird (minor pitting to enamels, several losses infilled)
10 1/8 in. (25.8 cm.) high

拍品专文

Vases of this form are not recorded with covers, the present example appears to be unique in that it has a cover. Cf. two vessels of similar form illustrated by Brinker and Lutz, Chinese Cloisonne, The Pierre Uldry Collection, no. 257, of larger size but unmarked, and no. 258, of smaller size and with a four-character Qianlong mark on the rim of the vase. Cf. also the vessel possibly identical with no. 257, illustrated in the Avery Brundage Collection of Ancient Chinese Cloisonnes, Catalogue, no.46.

Compare also related vessels with the bird resting on its tail and feet instead of on wheels including the duck-form vessel from the Beijing Palace Museum, illustrated in Zhongguo Meishu Quanji, Works of Art Series, vol. 10, Gold, Silver, Glass and Enamels, p. 188, no. 338, and a zun illustrated in Masterpieces of Chinese Enamel Ware in the National Palace Museum, pl. 27.

(US$45,000-55,000)