WINTER EXHIBITION 2008 - Roger Keverne

64 ROGER KEVERNE WINTER 2008
50
An unusual relief-decorated porcelain vase
Yongzheng period
Height: 18 in, 45.7 cm
of square section and standing on a spreading foot, the vase has flaring sides, narrow
shoulders, a flaring neck and a galleried rim, and is painted in rose-verte enamels. The body
and neck bear applied decoration of Bo gu (One Hundred Antiques), and the foot and shoulder
are painted with shaped cartouches of flowers reserved against a dense floral ground. Bands of
key-fret and small upright petals decorate the base of the neck, and the rim is also painted with
key-fret. The recessed base bears ink traces of Chinese characters.
Du Boulay illustrates a vase of almost identical form with relief moulded figures, dated Kangxi,
in The Taft Museum: Chinese Ceramics and Works of Art, no. 1931.92, pp. 648–9.
For similarly decorated porcelain, see Bahr, Old Chinese Porcelain & Works of Art in China,
pl. LXXXIII, a famille-rose mallet vase, dated Yongzheng; Lam, Ethereal Elegance: Porcelain
Vases of the Imperial Qing, The Huaihaitang Collection, no. 120, pp. 340–1, a massive
Yongzheng mark and period vase; and Porcelains in Polychrome and Contrasting Colours:
The Complete Collection of Treasures of the Palace Museum, no. 143, p. 156, a Kangxi
mallet vase.