Footnotes

清乾隆 銅胎畫琺瑯開光西洋人物圖獸耳瓶
藍彩「大清乾隆年製」楷書款

Provenance:
Acquired in 1990s

來源：
入藏於20世紀90年代

This vase is remarkable for its exquisite enamelling and painterly execution of the naturalistic scenes including the mountains, trees and figures. The superb craftsmanship of the present vase suggests that it was made in the Guangdong workshops as Imperial tribute to the Qianlong Emperor or by instruction of the Court.

The present lot in its form and decoration acknowledges inspirations from several cultures including the Chinese interpretation of the Indian-style lotus borders that emulates Rococo-type designs, together with a distinct European subject matter, representing an exotic foreign culture. The vase is therefore a representative artwork that bears witness to the integration of Asian and Western cultures in the imperial Court. The imperial Court's fascination with European culture and hence its depiction as decorative subject matter on various mediums is evident in many existing porcelain and works of art in the Imperial collections in Beijing and Taipei, ranging from clocks to snuff bottles, vases and other vessels of porcelain and glass.

Compare a vase of similar form and subject matter, Qianlong, illustrated in Compendium of Collections in the Palace Museum: Enamels 5, Beijing, 2011, p.197, pl.146. See also a painted enamel vase with similar subject matter but of a more slender form, with a similar Qianlong six-character mark, in the National Palace Museum, Taipei, illustrated in Enamel Ware in the Ming and Ch'ing Dynasties, Taipei, 1999, pl.146, which was also included in the Empire of Memory exhibition at the Grand Palais in Paris in 1998.

銅胎，瓶圓形，短頸，豐肩，兩側帶獸耳，碗式腹，外撇圈足。罐內施淺藍綠釉，器表黃地纏枝花間飾開光，肩、腹各二，以西洋寫生的技法分別繪西洋房舍、西洋人物、動物、西洋母子圖。底白地書藍色「大清乾隆年製」款。

銅胎畫琺瑯開光西洋人物圖在大件清宮藝術精品如鐘錶、蓋罐，小件巧作如鼻烟壺上多有變化，畫工如此拍品般精細的甚少，或爲廣東琺瑯工坊上繳宮廷或由造辦處直接訂做。見故宮博物院藏一畫琺瑯開光西洋人物圖蓋罐，器型題材皆可資參考，著錄於《故宮博物院藏品大系：琺琅器編，卷5：清畫琺琅》，頁197，圖版146。另可比對臺北故宮博物院藏一件銅胎畫琺瑯開光西洋人物圖瓶上的識款，同件曾在1998年巴黎大皇宮美術館的《Empire of Memory》展覽展出，見《明清琺瑯器展覽圖錄》，台北，1999年，圖版146。