A famille rose hu-form vase depicting Rice Cultivation


Republic periodOf thickly molded pear form raised on a tall foot with iron red enamel accenting the pair of stylized dragon loop handles, the front face painted in bright colors with scenes of rice harvesting and a small inscription in black enamel reversed by a longer inscription in black enamel bearing a Qianlong bingshen date (corresponding to 1776) above the seals qian and long in iron red, the recessed base and the interior foot left without glaze.14 1/4in (36cm) high
|The present vase bears about half of the preface penned by the Kangxi emperor for a well-known series of late 17th century paintings by Jiao Bingzhen, the Yuzhi Gengzhi Tu or 'The Imperially Sponsored Images of Tilling and Weaving.' The inscription stops mid-sentence and is here attributed to his grandson, the Qianlong Emperor. The smaller inscription within the tableau is the one found on the 15th image in Jiao's series, shouyi or 'the reaping.' Comparison with published examples would suggest however that what's depicted on this vase is a composite of several different elements of Jiao's agricultural scenes: see the late 18th century reproduction made for export offered as lot 242 in Bonhams Knightsbridge sale of 9 November 2015.