Imposing ‘Tianqiuping’ imperial porcelain bottle vase

Imposing bottle-shaped ‘Tianqiuping’ imperial porcelain vase with blue and white decoration of five-clawed dragons chasing the sacred pearl among bubbling waves. The base is glazed but unmarked, but the unglazed heel reveals a fine white paste.

This vase is reminiscent of similar models from the Qianlong period, but with more extensive and classical decoration of fierce dragons, scrolls and peony flowers: see Sotheby’s HK lot 3620 sale April 03, 2018 but on a yellow background, or Sotheby’s HK lot 309 sale April 25, 2004 in blue and white. However, this classic and well-known model, bearing the Qianlong mark in Zhuanshu under the base, is rigorously executed, with a band of Ruyi and flots on the upper part of the neck and flots marking the lower part and structuring the entire decoration in a more methodical and scholastic manner.
Our vase is not yet loaded with these decorative constraints, and the comparison with the cloisonné enamel model (Sotheby’s HK Lot 102 sale of October 03, 2017) featuring a dragon sailing among the waves but without additional decoration on the upper or lower part is more convincing. (see illustration)

Finally, it’s worth analyzing the treatment of waves, which here differs in many ways from the models mentioned above. Here, the waves move in circular clusters, giving the decor a vigor and movement that are both powerful and unique. The treatment of bubbling water with such vigor can be compared with decorations from the Kangxi period (see illustrations, The complete Collection of Treasures of the Palace Museum, Blue and White porcelain Vol. III, plates 54 and 55) to find a very similar interpretation of waves, in consecutive circular strokes.

Our unmarked vase therefore has certain decorative characteristics that bring it closer to the Kangxi period and a general freedom of interpretation often seen in the Yongzheng period, and would therefore have been executed in the intermediate period between the two styles. It should be noted that the Qianlong period models mentioned above, made approximately twenty years later, were inspired by models such as the present vase.

Height: 72 cm
Neck diameter: 13.5 cm

Provenance: French private collection