25. IMPORTANTE ET TRÈS RARE PAIRE DE VASES EN PORCELAINE CÉLADON À DÉCORS MOULÉS ET RÉHAUSSÉ D'OR Marques et époque Qianlong (1736-1795) A MAGNIFICENT AND VERY RARE PAIR OF CELADON-GLAZED MOULDED AND GILT-DECORATED ARCHAISTIC VASES AND COVERS Qianlong moulded and gilt six-character seal marks and of the period Each vase of square form, raised on a short straight foot and rising to a straight neck, both of corresponding square form, each side subtly moulded and highlighted in gilt against a pale translucent celadon ground with a musical chime, a wan symbol and endless knot, all tied with fluttering ribbons held between a bat at the top and a smaller bat at the bottom, the central design bordered by an intricate scrollwork of interlaced stylised dragons, with almond-shaped eyes and beak-like noses, with horns bent backwards, their thin bodies highly stylised and dissolving into a dense scrollwork, tails linked by heart-shaped rings, their outlines emphasised with fine gilt borders, the foot and neck moulded and gilt with a keyfret band, the square covers of domed form, centering on a bud-shaped knop within a border of raised bosses, each side with a moulded musical chime above a large stylised bat, the outlines highlighted in gilt, the luminous glaze a pale celadon tone. 18.5cm (7 1/4in) and 18.3cm (7 1/8in) high. (4). 清乾隆 粉青釉模印描金仿古紋方蓋瓶一對「大清乾隆年製」款 Provenance: Acquired in China in the late 19th century and thence by descent in the family to the current owner 來源： 於十九世紀末得自中國，後經家族流傳至現藏家 This pair of vases are very rare for multiple reasons: their shape and decoration which were inspired by archaic bronzes and jades, their luminous celadon glaze which evokes the pale and translucent celadon glazes of the Song dynasty, the subtly moulded designs around their sides highlighted with fine lines of gilding, the impressed and gilt marks on their bases and the fact that they comprise a pair. While they appear to be unique, they are deeply rooted in the tradition of imperial porcelains made in the 18th century under the Qianlong emperor. They illustrate the emperor's knowledge of antiquity and his appreciation of past traditions. His interest in antiquarian studies, or the studies of bronze and stone inscriptions (jinshixue 金石學), was the driving force behind the compilation of major catalogues of antiquities in the imperial collections which documented and illustrated the increasingly large imperial collection of ancient artifacts including archaic bronzes and jades, many of which were displayed in the halls and chambers of the imperial palaces. Under the Qianlong emperor, archaic bronzes and jades in the imperial collections often supplied models for porcelain forms and designs. In fact, imperial records of the Qianlong period note that the emperor urged the craftsmen working in the imperial workshops to follow the styles and specifications recorded in ancient catalogues. However, more often, the same craftsmen used ancient shapes and designs to create unique and exquisitely crafted objects, especially porcelains, such as evident in the present pair of vases. In their square shape, these two vases evoke the form of a neolithic jade cong 琮, a tall, squared cylindrical vessel that may have served as a status symbol in Chinese pre-dynastic history. The subtly moulded design of intricately interlaced dragons that adorns all four sides of each vase, however, is more obviously borrowed from archaic bronzes as well as archaic jades of the Eastern Zhou dynasty (770-256 BC), when the dragon motif developed into more and more abstract, angular interlaced scrollwork in relief, inlay or openwork, with the animals' bodies and limbs morphing into curled, comma-shaped extensions, and their heads small and stylised but for large exaggerated eyes. The delicate translucent pale celadon glaze which is applied to the entire surface of both vases and covers, including the bases, envelopes the low relief decoration ever so subtly carved at slightly different levels, allowing it to pool in the recesses and thinning to a pale, almost white tone on the raised parts of the design thus creating a delicate contrast of celadon tones, highlighting the dense, undulating archaistic design. Based on the fine, high-fired celadons of the late Tang dynasty, and the lustrous celadon glazes of the Southern Song dynasty developed in the Longquan kilns in Zhejiang, the glaze on the present vases is a product of the potters experimenting in the Qing imperial kilns. In the 18th century considerable effort was put into the perfection of much-appreciated celadon glazes. Potters perfected an even and paler celadon glaze using considerably less iron, modifying and adapting it even further to achieve a notably finer texture and, more importantly, a cooler, pale celadon colour with a clear, translucent bluish tone. No other vase of the same shape and design of this pair of vases appears to be recorded. A pair of small square vases with canted sides and covers, entirely covered in a similar translucent pale celadon glaze but of the Yongzheng period, was sold in Sotheby's New York, 5 and 6 November 1996, lot 857. In general, celadon-ground gilt-decorated porcelains are rare, with only few examples recorded. See, for instance, a pair of archaistic celadon-ground gilt-decorated vases with gilt six-character seal marks, from the J.M. Hu Collection, sold Sotheby's Hong Kong, 8 April 2010, lot 1803a. Compare also with a celadon-glazed vase with a moulded and gilt-decorated design, also with an impressed and gilt Qianlong seal mark to the base, sold Sotheby's Hong Kong, 18 and 19 May 1982, lot 340. The distinctive archaistic interlaced dragon design that embellishes the sides of both vases is more commonly associated with a small group of double-walled vases commissioned by and made for the Qianlong emperor. They pierced outer wall of these vases is in the shape of a complex design of small archaistic interlaced dragons with small heads and large, almond-shaped eyes and sinuous bodies dissolving into scrollwork, with outlines enhanced by fine gold lines, as seen on a double-walled Yangcai reticulated vase, sold Sotheby's Hong Kong, 10 July 2020, lot 1, or on another Yangcai reticulated vase, in the collection of the National Palace Museum, Taipei, illustrated in Stunning Decorative Porcelains from the Ch'ien-lung Reign, Taipei, 2021, cat.no.69 (Fig. 1). Impressed and gilt six-character Qianlong seal marks are known from a number of porcelains, mostly examples where forms, designs or glazes are archaistic, see, for example, a small imitation-gilt bronze archaistic tripod censer with an impressed and gilt Qianlong seal mark and of the period, sold Christie's Hong Kong, 27 November 2019, lot 2906. Or on a small tea-dust glazed gilt and silver-decorated washer in the collection of the National Palace Museum, published in Catalog of the Special Exhibition of K'ang-Hsi, Yung-Cheng and Ch'ien-Lung Porcelain Ware from the Ch'ing Dynasty in the National Palace Museum, Taipei, 1986, cat.no.95.