CELESTIAL SPHERE VASE, TIANQIUPING
China
It is adorned in a continuous decoration that makes the best use of the vase's surface and in a polychrome enamelled palette in the style of the "Famille Rose" of two magpies perched on the branches of a pomegranate tree heavily laden with nine fruits. Apocryphal mark of Emperor Qianlong in iron red with zhuanshu below.
Height: 33 cm
Comparison: For a similarly decorated vase, this one bearing the mark of Emperor Yongzheng and dating from his reign, refer to the vase with inventory number C1978.0070 in the collections of the Hong Kong Museum of Art.
Note 1. An amusing detail, a magpie is depicted pecking at the seeds of a pomegranate.
Note 2. A flowering pomegranate tree laden with fruit embodies fertility. With nine fruits, the iconography is close to perfection. As for the magpie, it is, by homonymy, the symbol of a "happy opportunity". Because of its iconography, this vase is highly beneficial.

A QIANLONG-MARKED FAMILLE-ROSE PALETTE 'MAGPIES AND POMEGRANATE' VASE, TIANQIUPING
China