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AN EXCEPTIONALLY RARE AND VERY LARGE ROSE-VERTE ROULEAU VASE
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AN EXCEPTIONALLY RARE AND VERY LARGE ROSE-VERTE ROULEAU VASE
Estimate
(Set Currency)
    HK$3,000,000 - HK$4,000,000
  • ($388,270 - $517,693)

Sale Information

Sale 2811
The Imperial Sale Important Chinese Ceramics and Works of Art
31 May 2010
Hong Kong Buy Catalog





Lot Description

AN EXCEPTIONALLY RARE AND VERY LARGE ROSE-VERTE ROULEAU VASE
KANGXI/YONGZHENG PERIOD (1662-1735)

The ovoid cylindrical body finely decorated in vibrant enamels with a pair of majestic phoenix perched on rockwork in flowering gardens of peony and magnolia, flanked by a pair of cranes and a pair of magpies below birds and butterflies in flight, beside a pair of mandarin ducks swimming in a flowering lotus pond among fish and tadpoles, the sloping shoulder encircled by a band of crustacean vignettes on a floral ground, the tall cylindrical neck similarly decorated with lotus and kingfishers below the dished mouth
29 1/2 in. (75 cm.) high, box


清康熙 五彩丹鳳朝陽棒槌瓶

瓶洗口，直頸，折肩，直腹，圈足。器內外及底部均施白釉，通體五彩紋飾。口沿環飾迴文。頸中部凸棱一周，環繪荷塘飛鳥。折肩處四組開光內繪蟹、蝦，中間以朵菊紋。器腹繪山石牡丹，蜜蜂飛舞其間，一雙鳳凰棲息於山石上，前面一輪紅日高照；君子蘭在石間搖曳起舞；山石間樹上兩羽仙鶴挺立樹頂，或向下觀望，或回首仰望；石旁生玉蘭樹，樹上玉蘭花盛放，一對喜鵲臥於枝頭；樹下水波蕩漾，荷花處處，一對鴛鴦悠遊自在地游弋其中。足底無款，繪青花雙圈。

此器原為美國加州聖塔芭芭拉美術館之舊藏。其造型敦厚，畫工精美細緻，用色鮮艷而不俗，紋飾繁密但錯落有致。尺寸之大，不為多見。

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Provenance

The Santa Barbara Museum of Art

Lot Notes

Very few vases of this exceptionally large proportion survive in collections. A comparable example of this same size from the collection of the Rt. Hon. The Lord Margadale of Islay, removed from Fonthill House, Wiltshire, was sold at Sotheby's Hong Kong, 16 May 1977, lot 216. The Fonthill vase is also decorated in a similar style to depict a single phoenix proudly standing on rockwork.

The particularly large size and auspicious imagery enamelled on the present vase, all points towards this being a special commission and possibly a wedding gift. The pair of phoenix in flight, fenghuang yufei, is symbolic of a harmonious marriage: shuangfeng heming; while the pair of mandarin ducks grants wishes for a happy marriage and progeny of 'distinguished sons'. Finally the two magpies, xique, symbolize another wedding motif, shuangxi, 'double-happiness', with the character of the word for magpie, xi, being the same as the character for happiness.

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