Qianlong style painted enamel with five blessings and longevity patterns, Kui ear living ring bottle

[Qianlong Painting Enamel Five Fu Shou Holding Pattern Kui Ear Ring Bottle]

Qianlong Painting Enamel Five Fu Shou Holding Pattern Kui Ear Ring Bottle, Qing Qianlong, caliber 4.3 cm, bottom diameter 4.5 cm, height 22.5 cm
This device has a coiled mouth, a long neck, a sloping shoulder, an oblique abdomen, a flat bottom, and a low circular foot. The symmetrical Kuilong shaped ears in the middle of the neck are each fitted with a circular ring. The main motif on the abdomen is set against five colored auspicious clouds, and five bats are depicted on a white enamel glaze surrounded by a patterned Shou character. Due to the homonym between “bat” and “blessing”, this type of pattern is called “five blessings holding longevity”. The five blessings generally refer to longevity, wealth, well-being, cultivating good morals, and testing one’s fate. The neck of this bottle is covered with yellow enamel glaze and decorated with a variety of tangled flower patterns. In the middle box of the outsole, there is a six-character seal script made in the reign of Emperor Qianlong of the Qing Dynasty
In December of the 21st year of Qianlong’s reign, the emperor once issued a decree that the enamel bottles, jars, and other utensils that were paid as gifts by the Guangdong Customs must be marked with the seal characters “made in the reign of Qianlong of the Qing Dynasty”, in order to distinguish them from the painted enamel utensils fired at the fabrication office of the Yangxin Hall
Although this living ring bottle uses various glaze materials such as pink, white, orange, lavender, sapphire blue, grayish blue, yellow, and green, and has bright colors, the yellow glaze is more dry and astringent than the one fired at the palace fabrication office. The five bats adopt two types of composition: top view and side view. The three bats in the top view also have certain changes, which obviously adopts Western techniques. The floral patterns on the neck are lively and lively, all of which demonstrate the unique style of Guangdong enamel