清乾隆 藍釉加彩平安無事吉慶有餘雙如意耳八方尊 六字篆書款QIANLONG SIX-CHARACTER SEAL MARK IN UNDERGLAZE BLUE AND OF THE PERIOD (1736-1795)清乾隆 藍釉加彩平安無事吉慶有餘雙如意耳八方尊 六字篆書款26 ¾ in. (68 cm.) highThis magnificent vase, measuring 68 cm. high, is truly extraordinary in size and remarkably complex in construction. It is a testament to the consummate prowess of the Qianlong-period potters. The elaborately moulded ruyi-form handles, coupled with the carp-and-chime motifs on the neck and plain medallions on the body, reflect a confluence of both Chinese and Western artistic elements. The medallion was a decorative device often seen on European works of art, and increasingly applied onto porcelains made during the Qianlong period, possibly from the influence of Jesuit missionaries at the court. A typical Qianlong vase with medallion decorations would be the falangcai revolving vase with medallions enclosing landscape panels in the Palace Museum Collection, illustrated on the museum website https://www.dpm.org.cn/collection/ceramic/227089.html. However, it is very rare to find a vase with plain, white panels like the current vase. The brown hues against the rich, sapphire-blue glaze on the body reserving plain white medallions, create a stark contrast of colours and palette combination often seen on European porcelains. Such unusual combination of colours, tactful melding of artistic elements, and impressively large size, make the current vase exceptionally rare and possibly even unique. No other example of similar design or construction appears to have been published. Aside from its rarity, the current vase also has illustrious provenance, having been published in the 1932 catalogue by the renowned Japanese dealer Yamanaka.Details A MAGNIFICENT AND VERY RARE BLUE-GLAZED ENAMELLED OCTAGONAL VASE WITH RUYI HANDLESQIANLONG SIX-CHARACTER SEAL MARK IN UNDERGLAZE BLUE AND OF THE PERIOD (1736-1795)The impressive vase is decorated on four sides with plain panels reserved against a rich blue-glazed ground with brown-washed borders, underneath a band of moulded brown ruyi-heads on the shoulder, the neck embellished on both sides with brown moulded chimes suspending pairs of carps by lotus stems, flanked by a pair of brown handles in the form of ruyi sceptres tied with moulded sashes.26 ¾ in. (68 cm.) high Provenance Yamanaka & Co., Osaka, 1932 Sold at Sotheby’s Hong Kong, 28-29 November 1979, lot 273 Literature Yamanaka & Co., Grand Exhibition of Ancient Eastern and Western Art (東西古美術展覽會Tozai kobijutsu tenrankai), Osaka, 1932, no. 634 Conditions of sale