A RARE CLOISONNÉ ENAMEL YELLOW-GROUND 'DUCK-HEAD' BOTTLE AND COVER Qianlong (2)A RARE CLOISONNÉ ENAMEL YELLOW-GROUND 'DUCK-HEAD' BOTTLE AND COVERQianlong Shaped as a duck, the bulbous body rising from a short foot, decorated with a pattern of floret-filled cell diaper diminishing in size on the lower neck below a narrow raised collar, the upper neck with a plain cell diaper, fitted with a gilt-rimmed aperture where it begins to gracefully bend towards the head with overlapping feathers, round naturalistic eyes and gilt beak, all on a rich yellow ground. 25.3cm (9 7/8in) high. (2).清乾隆 掐絲琺瑯黃地鳬首曲頸壺Provenance: a distinguished French private collection來源 法國顯赫私人收藏Gracefully modelled as a duck, the present vessel is rare for the yellow-ground colour of its body. Its shape is inspired by the bronze wine vessels produced during the Han dynasty and represents the importance attributed to archaism by the Qianlong emperor. A bronze 'duck-head' hu vessel, Han dynasty, is illustrated in Bestiare, Paris, March 1993, no.25.The Qianlong emperor proposed to 'restore the ancient ways', referring to the view of ancient culture as having intrinsic qualities of sincerity, simplicity and happy exuberance. For this purpose, the emperor instructed the Court to collect drawings of antiquities, such as the Xi Qing Gu Jian (Catalogue of Xiqing Antiquities), which provided the craftsmen inspiration for contemporary designs. See Chang Li-tuan, The Refined Taste of the Emperor: Special Exhibition of Archaic and Pictorial Jades of the Ch'ing Court, Taipei, 1997, pp.49-50.The drawing of the duck-head incense burner which served as inspiration for the present vessel, is illustrated in vol.21 of the Xi Qing Gu Jian, where it is referred to as a hu vessel; see B.Quette, Cloisonné: Chinese Enamels from the Yuan, Ming and Qing Dynasties, New York, 2011, p.87, fig.5.11. Compare with a related cloisonné enamel incense burner, Qianlong, shaped as a duck-head, in the collection of the Musée des Arts décoratifs, Paris, illustrated in Ibid., p.87, fig.5.10. See also two other similarly-shaped cloisonné enamel 'duck-head' vessels, 18th century, illustrated by G.Avitabile, Die Ware aus dem Teufelsland: Chinesische und japanische Cloisonné- und Champlevé-Arbeiten von 1400 bis 1900, Frankfurt, 1981, pp.180-81, nos.101a and 101b. A similar cloisonné enamel vessel, Qianlong, was sold at Christie's New York, 18 September 2014, lot 620.public_sentiment_keywords: Bronze ** bronzeis_parse: 20230413image: yuzhan_bonhams_item/51930667.jpgsold_price_type: £