Large cloisonné vase with 'taotie' masks 'fang zun'

Description:

China, 17th century
H. 57,5 cm
Chilong, lotus and taotie alternating on a turquoise-coloured ground between fire-gilt ridges around the body,
Old German private collection, collected from 1970 to 2000
The present vase with its elegant construction and elaborate enamelling bears witness to the interest of the Ming period up to the 18th century in antiquity. The square cup shape with its sharp-edged flanges is modelled on a ritual bronze vessel from the Zhou dynasty, namely a zun with a square cross-section. The design juxtaposes motifs taken from or inspired by the Zhou dynasty prototypes, such as the taotie masks in the centre register and the blades at the foot, with those found in contemporary porcelains, lacquers and textiles. Parts of the vessel that were not present in the original from the Zhou dynasty or would have remained empty were filled with lotus leaves, demonstrating the craftsmen's freedom of improvisation. Only a few Zun vessels in this large form are known. Compare a somewhat larger and similarly designed vessel in the Palace Museum in Beijing, illustrated in Gugong bowuyuan cangpin daxi: falangqi bian [Compendium of the Palace Museum Collections: Cloisonné], vol. 2, Beijing, 2011, fig. 36. slightly smaller cloisonnéenamel zun, about 55 cm high, include one with Qianlong mark and of the period in the National Palace Museum, illustrated in Enamel Ware in the Ming and Ch'ing Dynasties, Taipei, 1999, pl. 49; another is illustrated in Helmut Brinker and Albert Lutz, Chinese Cloisonné: The Uldry Collection, New York, 1989, fig. 212; another piece with an apocryphal Jingtai mark was sold at Christie's New York on 25 March 1998 as lot 89 - Losses to enemal, minor age damage and wear