Jingdezhen Qianlong-Style Turquoise-Ground Famille Rose Double-Gourd Vase

The design begins with one of the landmark Qianlong porcelains to appear at auction. Sotheby's Hong Kong offered a yellow-ground famille rose double-gourd vase as lot 2126 on 7 October 2010; it sold for HK$252.66 million, approximately US$32.5 million, after being catalogued as a classic achievement of the Qianlong imperial workshops.

This 40 cm Jingdezhen version keeps the historic long-necked double-gourd scale and the layered Wan Shou Lian Yan program, then transforms the original yellow ground into turquoise. Against that cooler field, iron-red longevity characters and famille rose floral scrolls become more graphic, while the hand-incised graviata gives the surface the depth of woven brocade.

The narrow waist divides the ornament into two linked chapters. Floral scrolls gather across the lower bulb, pause, and resume above, making the vessel's silhouette part of the story rather than a support for decoration. The result is a commanding entry-console or deep-cabinet piece whose color, carving, and form reveal themselves at different viewing distances.

• Origin: Jingdezhen, Jiangxi, China
• Material: Porcelain made from porcelain stone and kaolin
• Decoration: Hand-finished famille rose over a turquoise graviata ground
• Motifs: Floral scrolls, wan lattice, shou characters, ruyi, and lotus-petal bands
• Form: Long-necked double-gourd vase
• Height: 40 cm / 15.7 in
• Rim: Gold-toned decoration
• Mark: Decorative Qianlong-style reign mark
• Design relationship: Contemporary turquoise reinterpretation of the Qianlong Wan Shou Lian Yan decorative program