each skilfully potted with a baluster body rising from a short splayed foot to a tall neck with a shapely statuesque profile, the neck with elaborate contours flaring out and curving inwards and surmounted by a large hemispherical mouth enamelled with three registers of upright lotus petals below a speckled green band, the neck and upper shoulder decorated with six bands of floral scrolls, four against a vibrant yellow ground and three against a pastel pink ground, all above a wide frieze encircling the body and picked out in blue and gilding with a dense pattern of intertwining kui dragons and foliate scrolls, the foot skirted by a further yellow-ground border enclosing a floral scroll, the interior and base enamelled turquoise, the base further centred with a blue enamel seal mark within a white cartouche

An American private collection.
Christie's New York, 19th March 2009, lot 761.

Both vases are in overall good condition, with the exception of minute enamel flakes and surface wear. The original covers/top are missing. One vase with a repaired shallow flake (1cm wide) at the bulbous neck where the galleried top is attached.
"In response to your inquiry, we are pleased to provide you with a general report of the condition of the property described above. Since we are not professional conservators or restorers, we urge you to consult with a restorer or conservator of your choice who will be better able to provide a detailed, professional report. Prospective buyers should inspect each lot to satisfy themselves as to condition and must understand that any statement made by Sotheby's is merely a subjective, qualified opinion. Prospective buyers should also refer to any Important Notices regarding this sale, which are printed in the Sale Catalogue.
NOTWITHSTANDING THIS REPORT OR ANY DISCUSSIONS CONCERNING A LOT, ALL LOTS ARE OFFERED AND SOLD AS IS" IN ACCORDANCE WITH THE CONDITIONS OF BUSINESS PRINTED IN THE SALE CATALOGUE."

This pair of vases is amongst the most inventive vessels produced in the imperial kilns at Jingdezhen, Jiangxi province. Although unique, they are related to other imperial Qianlong porcelain and works of art in various aspects and reflect his enthusiastic patronage of Tibetan Buddhism and the arts.

In form, these vases appear to derive from  Tibetan Buddhist altar vases, such as the jewelled silver benja pot made for use in one of the Buddhist chapels in the Forbidden City, illustrated in Cultural Relics of Tibetan Buddhism Collected in the Qing Palace, Beijing, 1992, pl. 146 (partly concealed by its pleated silk wrapping). While the present vases have a more complicate𒁃d silhouette, they follow the globular body and multiple sections of the tall neck of the originals.

These vases also draw inspiration from painted enamel wares which reveal their uniqueness. Complex forms that had previously been limited to metal wares, due to the flexibility of the material and level of painted enamel production attained, could now find porcelain counterparts through the developments in porcelain technology. Crisply shaped and painted lotus flower bowls similar to those surmounting these vases were first produced in painted enamel from the Kangxi period (1664-1722), such as one in the Palace Museum, Beijing, published in The Compendium of Collections in the Palace Museum. Enamels, vol. 5, Painted Enamels in the Qing Dynasty, Beijing, 2011, pl. 25. A similarly vibrant porcelain lotus flower bowl with cover, with Qianlong mark and of the period, was included in the exhibition Imperial Perfection. The Palace Porcelain of Three Chinese Emperors, op.cit., cat. no. 59.

The gilt-painted rims and colourful palette of the present vases also resemble that found on painted enamel.  The lavender-blue of the kui dragon provides an elegant contrast with the remarkably-well preserved gilt outlines, the subdued tone of which is juxtaposed with the bright yellow and pinks of the neck and mouth. A large vase bearing a related geometric archaistic scrolling kui­ dragon surrounding a central shou character in a similar blue and lavender to the present vases, in the Palace Museum, Beijing, is published in The Compendium of Collections in the Palace Museum. Enamels, vol. 5: Painted Enamels in the Qing Dynasty, Beijing, 2011, pl. 203.

The combination of numerous design schemes and the idiosyncratic form of these vases, together with the style of the blue enamel seal mark, point to a later date of manufacture during the long reign of the Qianlong Emperor. According to Peter Lam in 'Towards a Dating Framework for Qianlong Imperial Porcelain', Transactions of the Oriental Ceramic Society, vol. 74, 2009-2010, pp. 1-33, the six-character seal mark on the base suggests it was created after 1785. It is exceptionally rare to find six-character seal marks in blue enamel, and Lam suggests that four-character blue enamel marks on turquoise bases were Jingdezhen copies of falangcai overglaze blue marks. This suggests that although the emperor gave and edict stating all seal marks should be standardised in the second year of his reign (in accordance with 1737), there was still a cerᩚᩚᩚᩚᩚᩚ⁤⁤⁤⁤ᩚ⁤⁤⁤⁤ᩚ⁤⁤⁤⁤ᩚ𒀱ᩚᩚᩚtain level of experimentation with enamels used for reign marks.