A Chinese famille rose-decorated baluster vaseYongzheng/Qianlong period. Undrilled, depicting a scholar climbing over a wall into a garden with meiren, another offering a book to a meiren.H: 10 1/2 in. (porcelain) PROVENANCE:Private Collection, New York, NYNOTE:The impoverished scholar Zhang Sheng, in love with the elegant Cui Yingying but considered by her mother to be unworthy of her hand, climbs over the wall of her family's garden to be with the woman he loves. Painted in the distinctive palate of the Yongzheng period (1722-1735), incorporating luscious deep pinks and flat blacks highlighted with gold, this vase illustrates a popular scene from the famous Chinese classic "Romance of the Western Chamber" (Xi Jiang Ji). Compare a similarly decorated 42cm diameter dish, formerly in a Belgian private collection, sold at Christie's, London, Noble & Private Collections, October 27, 2015, lot 34. The present lot is notable not only for the form (examples decorated in this pattern are typically circular dishes), but also for the additional scene of Zhang Sheng on bended knee before the object of his desire.