Eternal Flowers

Yangzhou, 1830-1911
Height: 5.92 cm
Mouth/lip: 0.71/1.60 cm
Stopper: aquamarine; gilt-silver collar.

Provenance:
Paul Braga Collection
Bonham’s, Hong Kong, 24 November, 2012, lot 85

 

Transparent sapphire-blue glass on translucent white glass; with a concave lip and recessed convex, oval foot surrounded by a protruding flat, oval foot rim; carved as a single overlay with, on one main side, a dragonfly and two butterflies above various flowering plants, including chrysanthemums growing around ornamental rocks,  and on the other with six swallows, four in flight and two perched in the branches of a blossoming prunus, with a four-character title in seal script above, Huamu zhangrong 華木長榮 (‘Flowers and trees flourish for eternity’ parts of the design carved in the ground colour.

Alexander Whittaker