A rare gilt-bronze-mounted cloisonné enamel 'hundred deer' vase


Late 18th century The vase with archaistic hu shape featuring a pear-shaped body rising from a short spreading foot to an everted rim, decorated around the exterior with several deer in a rocky landscape, below cranes hovering amidst ruyi cloud scrolls, the shoulder flanked by a pair of gilt-copper dragon handles, with later elaborate gilt-bronze mounts meticulously cast and pierced with lion masks to the base and shou characters to the rim. 49cm (19 2/8in) high; with mounts 81.5cm (32in) high. (3).
|十八世紀末 銅胎掐絲琺瑯百鹿尊Provenance: a European private collection來源： 歐洲私人收藏The deer symbolises both career advancement and also long life, while the cranes are additional symbols of long life. The theme of deer was highly favoured by the Qianlong emperor, as numerous court paintings dating to his reign and porcelain vases decorated with the 'hundred deer' theme have been preserved. In addition the combination of deer and cranes appear on a small number of other 18th century cloisonne enamelled vessels. Compare with a related cloisonné enamel 'hundred deer' vase, Qing dynasty, in the George Walter Vincent Smith Art Museum, Massachusetts, illustrated in Cloisonné: Chinese Enamels from the Yuan, Ming and Qing Dynasties, New York, 2011, p.101 fig.5.36. A similar gilt-bronze-mounted cloisonné enamel 'hundred deer' vase, Qianlong period, the mounts later, possibly the pair to the present lot, was sold at Sotheby's London, 13 May 2009, lot 28.