Pair of vases; Jiaqing period, China

Pair of vases; Jiaqing period, Qing dynasty, China, 18th century.
Porcelain. Green family.
Size: 61 x 30 x 30 cm (x2).
Pair of large vases made in porcelain. Both pieces have the same design in terms of shape and ornamentation. Each of the vases has a tall cylindrical base decorated with an ornamental grid combining blue and pink flowers on a green background. The circular body, which increases in circumference in ascending order, is decorated with a series of cartouches in the form of a frieze that alternates landscape scenes with images of war. In the case of the flared collar, the design goes even further, as it combines painted motifs with figures in relief that give the piece a great three-dimensionality. This is also evident in the lotus-flower-shaped finial at the mouth of each of the vases. The ornamentation indicates that these vases belong to what is known as the 'green family', which is the Western name for a style of Chinese polychrome porcelain derived from wucai (literally, 'five colours'). Wucai was created in the Ming dynasty and has been widely used in China ever since. It is characterised by only some of the motifs being executed in cobalt-blue underglaze, while the rest of the decoration is applied already on the glaze. In addition, black glaze is added for the outlines, in early times covered with a translucent green glaze to fix it. The Green Family style is a type of wucai called yingcai ("solid colours"), which is characterised by the predominance of copper oxide green. The name yingcai refers to the quality of the glazes, which are crystalline because they are mostly applied to the glaze.

The Qianlong Emperor, a member of the Qing dynasty, ruled China from 1736 to 1795, and is remembered to this day as one of the most cultured emperors and one of the most important in terms of art collecting. His long reign was a particularly interesting moment in Chinese history. At that time, the country was the richest and most populous nation in the world. Qianlong was able to preserve and foster his own Manchu warrior and hunter traditions, and combine them with the adoption of Confucian principles of political and cultural leadership, thus achieving an effective and stable government. Indeed, it was his ability to adopt Chinese customs while honouring his Manchu tradition that made him one of the most successful emperors of the Qing dynasty. Qianlong studied Chinese painting, and especially enjoyed the art of calligraphy, which was highly regarded in this culture, indeed conceived as the highest of the arts.