QIANLONG PERIOD (1736-1795)

The present very rare pair of cloisonné vessels attests to Qianlong Emperor’s pursuit of antiquarianism in decorative arts. The inspiration for the shape and decoration of vessels can be seen in early bronze prototypes, such as the Shang example in the collection of the National Palace Museum, Taipei, illustrated in Shang Ritual Bronzes in the National Palace Museum Collection, Taipei, 1998, pp. 164-67, no. 11; and another with related decoration, in the Avery Brundage Collection, illustrated by R.-Y. Lefebvre d'Argencé in Ancient Chinese Bronzes in the Avery Brundage Collection, Asian Art Museum of San Francisco, San Francisco, 1977, pp. 22-23, pl. VI. The early bronze and later cloisonné interpretations share a similarly lobed body spreading smoothly upward from the tapering legs, and the lobes are decorated with large taotie masks. The similarities can also be seen in the handles and placement and shape of the spout. On the domed covers of the present ewers, the domed-cap finial has been replaced by a lotus bud. The present examples can be compared to a nearly identical pair of cloisonné enamel he dated to the Qianlong period, previously in the collection of Nathan Bushell, sold at Christie's New York, 15 September 2009, lot 205, and the single example from the Springfield Museums, formerly in the George Walter Vincent Smith (1832-1923) Collection, was sold at Christie's Hong Kong, 28 May 2021, lot 2908.