30 NOVEMBER 2020 | LIVE AUCTION 19960Imperial Glories from the Springfield Museums Collection

2020-12-01 08:40:51

 

 

A MAGNIFICENT AND MASSIVE IMPERIAL CLOISONNE ENAMEL ‘TAOTIE’ HU-FORM VASE
YONGZHENG-QIANLONG PERIOD (1722-1795)
The pear-shaped vase is superbly cast on both sides of the body with a powerful taotie mask in relief featuring scroll-shaped eyebrows, eyes detailed with concentric circles, and gilt-bronze teeth in relief against a diaper ground of wan emblems and florettes enclosed within octagonal panels, below a raised gilt-bronze band cast with pairs of confronted dragons, and the neck decorated with a band of plantain-shaped panels each enclosing a pair of confronted phoenix, flanked by a pair of loop handles decorated with taotie masks. The waisted foot is further decorated with four ferocious mythical-beast masks interspersed by four mythical beasts shown in profile.


25 3/8 in. (64.7 cm.) high

Provenance

George Walter Vincent Smith (1832-1923), Springfield, Massachusetts, acquired prior to 1910

Price realised   HKD 8,650,000

Estimate  HKD 3,000,000 - HKD 5,000,000

A VERY RARE SMALL IMPERIAL CLOISONNE ENAMEL ‘QILIN AND LIONS’ VASE
QIANLONG CAST FOUR-CHARACTER MARK WITHIN A SQUARE AND OF THE PERIOD (1736-1795)
The small baluster vase is brilliantly decorated on the exterior with a qilin above a treasure vase surrounded by eight lions playing with four be-ribboned brocade balls arranged in two rows amid colourful clouds between bands of petal lappets. The waisted neck is decorated with lotus scrolls flanked by a pair of gilt-bronze chilong-form handles and encircled by a gilt-bronze ring cast with lotus scrolls, below the galleried mouth chased with a double-line classic scroll on top.
4 ½ in. (11.2 cm.) high

Price realised     HKD 6,850,000

Estimate    HKD 1,200,000 – HKD 1,800,000