CHINE, DYNASTIE QING, MARQUE À SIX CARACTÈRES EN CACHET EN BLEU SOUS COUVERTE ET ÉPOQUE QIANLONG (1736-1795)

The design and form of the current vase are closely modelled after early-Ming examples, such as a Yongle yuhuchunping in the Palace Museum, Beijing, illustrated in The Complete Collection of Treasures of the Palace Museum. Blue and White Porcelain with Underglazed Red (I), Hong Kong, 2000, no. 33. For other Qianlong-marked yuhuchunping of this design, see one formerly housed at the Palace of Tranquil Longevity in the Forbidden City, included in the exhibition A lofty retreat from the red dust: the secret garden of emperor, Hong Kong, 2012, Catalogue, no. 51; one in the National Palace Museum, Taipei, illustrated in The National Palace Museum: Blue and White Ware of the Ch’ing Dynasty, Book II, Taipei, 1968, no. 12; and one sold at Christie’s Hong Kong, 1 December 2010, lot 3053.
Vases of this type form an important part of imperial furnishing in the Qing palaces, see a pair of vases of the same design displayed on a side table in the Eastern Chamber of the Palace of the Gathered Elegance, and one on the curio display cabinet in the Studio of Pure Fragrance, illustrated in Qingdai gongting shenghuo, Taipei, 1986, figs. 214 and 224, respectively.