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Lot Essay
Prosperity and Longevity – A Magnificent Qianlong ‘Deer’ Vase
Rosemary Scott
International Academic Director, Asian Art
Magnificent famille rose 'deer' vases such as the one in the current sale are not only spectacular in their own right, but reflect the taste of one of China's greatest imperial collectors and patrons, the Qianlong Emperor (1736-95), and would have been made for his court at the imperial kilns of Jingdezhen. While the whole of the bold pear-shape of their bodies is given over to depiction of deer in landscape with rocks, pine trees and blossoming trees, the scheme is complemented by the handles on either side, which are in the form of archaistic dragons and are enamelled in iron red with gold details. Such archaistic details were very popular at the Qianlong court.
Vases with this type of decoration are often known as 'hundred deer vases' - although in most cases the number ‘hundred’ is used loosely simply to mean 'many'. In Chinese a hundred deer is 百鹿 bai lu which suggests the wish shoutian bailu 受天百祿 'May you receive the hundred emoluments from heaven' with the implication of a multiplied wish for wealth and rank, as well as longevity. The number one hundred is implied using two other rebuses within these designs, one is by including white deer amongst the brown or red deer, since the word for white in Chinese is bai 白 - a homophone for the word for a hundred. The other rebus is provided by the inclusion of a cypress tree in the design, since the name for cypress in Chinese is also bai 柏.
Indeed, deer have a number of auspicious meanings in Chinese culture. Shoulao, the Star God of Longevity, is usually depicted accompanied by a spotted deer, crane, peach and pine tree. Thus each of these, including the deer, has come to represent long life. Deer are known to live for a long time and are believed to be the only animals that can find the fungus of immortality. In addition, deer may represent Luxing 祿星, the God of Rank and Emolument. The Chinese word for deer, lu 鹿, sounds like lu 祿, the word for emolument or an official salary, thus deer are symbolic of the rank and wealth that are associated with such a salary. The deer on this vase are shown in association with cypress trees. While the word for cypress bai (or bo) 柏 can provide a rebus for ‘a hundred’, the deer and cypress together can also suggest the wish bailing shilu 百齡食祿 ‘May you attain old age and continue to receive emolument’. Finally, Chinese herbalists traditionally grind up deer antlers and include the resulting powder in certain medicines, believing it to have health-giving effects.
Two slightly different versions of this design exist. The version seen on the current vases is the much rarer type, on which the river is a more dominant feature of the landscape, and the artist has given greater attention to the creation of coherent recession in the scheme. On the deer vases bearing this version of the design the artist has used the river very effectively to evoke a greater feeling of space in the composition, and allow a more effective creation of recession in the landscape. This feeling of recession is also emphasized by the device of painting the deer in the foreground on a relatively large scale, and those deer across the river, in the distance, on a much smaller scale. Compare two other vases of this type, also with iron red and gilt handles, and the same lay-out: one in the collection of the National Museum of China and illustrated in Zhongguo guojia bowuguan guancang wenwu yanjiu congshu - ciqi juan - Qing dai, Shanghai, 2007, pp. 134-5, no. 90, and another from the Chang Foundation, illustrated in Selected Chinese Ceramics from Han to Qing Dynasties, Taipei, 1990, pp. 368-9, no. 165.
The majority of published examples of Qianlong 'hundred deer' vases have a more crowded scheme, without the wide river, with all of the deer painted approximately the same size, and none viewed in the far distance. A 'hundred deer' vase of this second type, from the Qing Court Collection, with iron red handles similar to those on the current vases is in the collection of the Palace Museum, Beijing (illustrated in The Complete Collection of Treasures of the Palace Museum - 39 - Porcelains with Cloisonné Enamel Decoration and Famille Rose Decoration, Commercial Press, Hong Kong, 1999, pp 98-9, no. 85). A pair of similar 'hundred deer' vases with iron red handles is in the Shanghai Museum (illustrated in Selected Ceramics from the Collection of Mr. and Mrs. J.M. Hu, Shanghai, 1989, pl. 67), while a single example, also in the Shanghai Museum, is illustrated in Chogoku Toji Zenshu, vol. 21, Kyoto, 1981, pl. 103. A further red-handled vase is in the Osaka Museum (illustrated in Ming and Qing Ceramics and Works of Art, Japan, 1980, p. 43, pl. 195), A similar vase was included in the Hong Kong Museum of Art exhibition The Wonders of the Potter's Palette, 1984, and is illustrated in the catalogue as no. 71, while another from the Grandidier Collection is in the Musée Guimet, Paris (illustrated in Oriental Ceramics, The World's Great Collections, Kodansha Series, Tokyo, 1981, vol. 7, pl. 190). A Qianlong 'hundred deer' vase with blue handles and a deer vase without handles are in the collection of the Seikado Bunko Art Museum (illustrated in Qing Dynasty Porcelain, Seikado Bunko Art Museum, Tokyo, 2006, p. 68, no. 58 and p. 69, no. 59, respectively). A further 'hundred deer' vase with blue handles is in the collection of the Nanjing Museum (illustrated in Qing Imperial Porcelain of the Kangxi, Yongzheng and Qianlong Reigns, Nanjing Museum/Art Gallery of the Chinese University of Hong Kong, 1995, no. 86).
The evocative depictions of deer in rocky, tree-strewn landscapes were probably intended to represent deer in the imperial gardens and hunting parks. Indeed, one of the reasons for the popularity of deer in Chinese art is associated with a favourite imperial pastime - the creation of gardens and hunting parks, which were frequently stocked with deer. Even the last rulers of both the early Bronze Age dynasties of Xia and Shang are traditionally believed to have expended considerable sums from the treasury on the construction of gardens and parks. The first Qin dynasty emperor, Qin Shihuangdi (221-207 BC), is credited with the initial design for the Shanglin Park to the west and south-west of the capital Chang'an (modern Xi'an), and the Upper Grove Park near his palace was used partly as a leisure park and partly as a hunting park. The Han dynasty Emperor Wudi (140-87 BC) expanded this park and had artificial lakes created within it. Some of the pools were specially dug for the deer, which were among the animals and plants brought to the imperial park from all over China (see N. Titley and F. Wood, Oriental Gardens, British Library, London, 1991, p. 72). The second Sui dynasty emperor (AD 598-618) ordered the construction of a similar park outside his capital at Luoyang, into which he too brought deer. The Northern Song emperor Huizong (AD 1101-26) was another enthusiastic builder of gardens, and the imperial garden at Kaifeng contained many different types of deer among its varied animal inhabitants. The Southern Song emperors also enjoyed gardens at their capital at Hangzhou, and Marco Polo's Travels mentions a large park on the shores of West Lake containing many types of deer. Thus deer became well established in Chinese imperial gardens for their visual attractiveness and interesting variations, as well as to provide sport for imperial hunting parties.
The theme of 'hundred deer' was adopted on porcelains in the middle Ming period, and can be seen on a Wanli (AD 1573-1620) wucai jar in the Musée Guimet, Paris (illustrated in The World's Great Collections - Oriental Ceramics Vol. 7 - Musée Guimet, Paris, Kodansha, Tokyo, 1981, no. 26) and on the pair of large blue and white Wanli jars given to Queen Christina of Sweden by the Portuguese Ambassador (see The World's Great Collections - Oriental Ceramics Vol. 8 - Museum of Far Eastern Antiquities, Stockholm, Kodansha, Tokyo, 1982, fig. 247). The theme became even more popular under the Manchus of the Qing dynasty, who were proud of their heritage and encouraged equestrian and hunting skills. The Qianlong Emperor revived the tradition of the annual Autumn hunt, and the Summer Palace at Chengde was largely a hunting park kept stocked with game, particularly deer. Deer and deer hunts were favourite themes in Qing dynasty court painting. A handscroll of 'One Hundred Deer' by Ai Qimeng (the Jesuit artist Ignatius Sichelbarth, 1708-80), now in the National Palace Museum, Taipei, shows a similar approach to the deer in landscape as seen on the current vases, including the wide river at the end of the scroll, and the inclusion of colourful leaves on some of the trees. The subject of deer was obviously one close to the Qianlong emperor's heart, as can be seen not only in the numerous court paintings dating to his reign, but in the appearance of deer on porcelain. Vases such as the current examples with their large decorative areas provided an ideal 'canvas' for the creation of enamel paintings of deer in landscapes on porcelain. Qianlong's appreciation of the theme was also expressed on a cloisonné plaque, formerly in the collection of S. Soames, decorated with a river landscape through which wander the so-called 'hundred deer' (see Sir Harry Garner, Chinese and Japanese Cloisonné Enamels, Faber & Faber, London, 1962, p. 93 and pl. 77). The plaque is inscribed on the back with a somewhat disingenuous Qianlong poem in which the emperor refers to the deer with their young in the royal park, and how they are free from fear because they are safe-guarded by imperial decree from attack by archers shooting arrows.
Rosemary Scott
International Academic Director, Asian Art
Magnificent famille rose 'deer' vases such as the one in the current sale are not only spectacular in their own right, but reflect the taste of one of China's greatest imperial collectors and patrons, the Qianlong Emperor (1736-95), and would have been made for his court at the imperial kilns of Jingdezhen. While the whole of the bold pear-shape of their bodies is given over to depiction of deer in landscape with rocks, pine trees and blossoming trees, the scheme is complemented by the handles on either side, which are in the form of archaistic dragons and are enamelled in iron red with gold details. Such archaistic details were very popular at the Qianlong court.
Vases with this type of decoration are often known as 'hundred deer vases' - although in most cases the number ‘hundred’ is used loosely simply to mean 'many'. In Chinese a hundred deer is 百鹿 bai lu which suggests the wish shoutian bailu 受天百祿 'May you receive the hundred emoluments from heaven' with the implication of a multiplied wish for wealth and rank, as well as longevity. The number one hundred is implied using two other rebuses within these designs, one is by including white deer amongst the brown or red deer, since the word for white in Chinese is bai 白 - a homophone for the word for a hundred. The other rebus is provided by the inclusion of a cypress tree in the design, since the name for cypress in Chinese is also bai 柏.
Indeed, deer have a number of auspicious meanings in Chinese culture. Shoulao, the Star God of Longevity, is usually depicted accompanied by a spotted deer, crane, peach and pine tree. Thus each of these, including the deer, has come to represent long life. Deer are known to live for a long time and are believed to be the only animals that can find the fungus of immortality. In addition, deer may represent Luxing 祿星, the God of Rank and Emolument. The Chinese word for deer, lu 鹿, sounds like lu 祿, the word for emolument or an official salary, thus deer are symbolic of the rank and wealth that are associated with such a salary. The deer on this vase are shown in association with cypress trees. While the word for cypress bai (or bo) 柏 can provide a rebus for ‘a hundred’, the deer and cypress together can also suggest the wish bailing shilu 百齡食祿 ‘May you attain old age and continue to receive emolument’. Finally, Chinese herbalists traditionally grind up deer antlers and include the resulting powder in certain medicines, believing it to have health-giving effects.
Two slightly different versions of this design exist. The version seen on the current vases is the much rarer type, on which the river is a more dominant feature of the landscape, and the artist has given greater attention to the creation of coherent recession in the scheme. On the deer vases bearing this version of the design the artist has used the river very effectively to evoke a greater feeling of space in the composition, and allow a more effective creation of recession in the landscape. This feeling of recession is also emphasized by the device of painting the deer in the foreground on a relatively large scale, and those deer across the river, in the distance, on a much smaller scale. Compare two other vases of this type, also with iron red and gilt handles, and the same lay-out: one in the collection of the National Museum of China and illustrated in Zhongguo guojia bowuguan guancang wenwu yanjiu congshu - ciqi juan - Qing dai, Shanghai, 2007, pp. 134-5, no. 90, and another from the Chang Foundation, illustrated in Selected Chinese Ceramics from Han to Qing Dynasties, Taipei, 1990, pp. 368-9, no. 165.
The majority of published examples of Qianlong 'hundred deer' vases have a more crowded scheme, without the wide river, with all of the deer painted approximately the same size, and none viewed in the far distance. A 'hundred deer' vase of this second type, from the Qing Court Collection, with iron red handles similar to those on the current vases is in the collection of the Palace Museum, Beijing (illustrated in The Complete Collection of Treasures of the Palace Museum - 39 - Porcelains with Cloisonné Enamel Decoration and Famille Rose Decoration, Commercial Press, Hong Kong, 1999, pp 98-9, no. 85). A pair of similar 'hundred deer' vases with iron red handles is in the Shanghai Museum (illustrated in Selected Ceramics from the Collection of Mr. and Mrs. J.M. Hu, Shanghai, 1989, pl. 67), while a single example, also in the Shanghai Museum, is illustrated in Chogoku Toji Zenshu, vol. 21, Kyoto, 1981, pl. 103. A further red-handled vase is in the Osaka Museum (illustrated in Ming and Qing Ceramics and Works of Art, Japan, 1980, p. 43, pl. 195), A similar vase was included in the Hong Kong Museum of Art exhibition The Wonders of the Potter's Palette, 1984, and is illustrated in the catalogue as no. 71, while another from the Grandidier Collection is in the Musée Guimet, Paris (illustrated in Oriental Ceramics, The World's Great Collections, Kodansha Series, Tokyo, 1981, vol. 7, pl. 190). A Qianlong 'hundred deer' vase with blue handles and a deer vase without handles are in the collection of the Seikado Bunko Art Museum (illustrated in Qing Dynasty Porcelain, Seikado Bunko Art Museum, Tokyo, 2006, p. 68, no. 58 and p. 69, no. 59, respectively). A further 'hundred deer' vase with blue handles is in the collection of the Nanjing Museum (illustrated in Qing Imperial Porcelain of the Kangxi, Yongzheng and Qianlong Reigns, Nanjing Museum/Art Gallery of the Chinese University of Hong Kong, 1995, no. 86).
The evocative depictions of deer in rocky, tree-strewn landscapes were probably intended to represent deer in the imperial gardens and hunting parks. Indeed, one of the reasons for the popularity of deer in Chinese art is associated with a favourite imperial pastime - the creation of gardens and hunting parks, which were frequently stocked with deer. Even the last rulers of both the early Bronze Age dynasties of Xia and Shang are traditionally believed to have expended considerable sums from the treasury on the construction of gardens and parks. The first Qin dynasty emperor, Qin Shihuangdi (221-207 BC), is credited with the initial design for the Shanglin Park to the west and south-west of the capital Chang'an (modern Xi'an), and the Upper Grove Park near his palace was used partly as a leisure park and partly as a hunting park. The Han dynasty Emperor Wudi (140-87 BC) expanded this park and had artificial lakes created within it. Some of the pools were specially dug for the deer, which were among the animals and plants brought to the imperial park from all over China (see N. Titley and F. Wood, Oriental Gardens, British Library, London, 1991, p. 72). The second Sui dynasty emperor (AD 598-618) ordered the construction of a similar park outside his capital at Luoyang, into which he too brought deer. The Northern Song emperor Huizong (AD 1101-26) was another enthusiastic builder of gardens, and the imperial garden at Kaifeng contained many different types of deer among its varied animal inhabitants. The Southern Song emperors also enjoyed gardens at their capital at Hangzhou, and Marco Polo's Travels mentions a large park on the shores of West Lake containing many types of deer. Thus deer became well established in Chinese imperial gardens for their visual attractiveness and interesting variations, as well as to provide sport for imperial hunting parties.
The theme of 'hundred deer' was adopted on porcelains in the middle Ming period, and can be seen on a Wanli (AD 1573-1620) wucai jar in the Musée Guimet, Paris (illustrated in The World's Great Collections - Oriental Ceramics Vol. 7 - Musée Guimet, Paris, Kodansha, Tokyo, 1981, no. 26) and on the pair of large blue and white Wanli jars given to Queen Christina of Sweden by the Portuguese Ambassador (see The World's Great Collections - Oriental Ceramics Vol. 8 - Museum of Far Eastern Antiquities, Stockholm, Kodansha, Tokyo, 1982, fig. 247). The theme became even more popular under the Manchus of the Qing dynasty, who were proud of their heritage and encouraged equestrian and hunting skills. The Qianlong Emperor revived the tradition of the annual Autumn hunt, and the Summer Palace at Chengde was largely a hunting park kept stocked with game, particularly deer. Deer and deer hunts were favourite themes in Qing dynasty court painting. A handscroll of 'One Hundred Deer' by Ai Qimeng (the Jesuit artist Ignatius Sichelbarth, 1708-80), now in the National Palace Museum, Taipei, shows a similar approach to the deer in landscape as seen on the current vases, including the wide river at the end of the scroll, and the inclusion of colourful leaves on some of the trees. The subject of deer was obviously one close to the Qianlong emperor's heart, as can be seen not only in the numerous court paintings dating to his reign, but in the appearance of deer on porcelain. Vases such as the current examples with their large decorative areas provided an ideal 'canvas' for the creation of enamel paintings of deer in landscapes on porcelain. Qianlong's appreciation of the theme was also expressed on a cloisonné plaque, formerly in the collection of S. Soames, decorated with a river landscape through which wander the so-called 'hundred deer' (see Sir Harry Garner, Chinese and Japanese Cloisonné Enamels, Faber & Faber, London, 1962, p. 93 and pl. 77). The plaque is inscribed on the back with a somewhat disingenuous Qianlong poem in which the emperor refers to the deer with their young in the royal park, and how they are free from fear because they are safe-guarded by imperial decree from attack by archers shooting arrows.