Dimensions: Height 54 cm Wide 40 cm Depth 40 cm
Weight: 10837 grams

Of generous baluster form with tall cylindrical neck and rounded body tapering to a recessed foot. The sides are finely painted in famille-rose enamels with a continuous scene of “Hundred Boys” at play, parading with banners, drums, and lanterns in a garden landscape with trees, rocks, and pavilions. Each child is rendered with individualized features and colorful robes, animated in processions that encircle the vessel. A floral band with scrolling lotus and peony reserved on a bright yellow ground encircles the neck beneath a pink key-fret border, while the footrim is decorated with upright lappets. The recessed base bears a six-character Qianlong seal mark in iron-red.

Symbolism:

• Hundred Boys motif (baizi tu): An emblem of abundant offspring and dynastic continuity, particularly auspicious for elite families wishing for numerous sons.

• Parade banners and standards: Signify victory, honor, and celebration, often tied to success in imperial examinations.

• Drums and musical instruments: Associated with festivity and harmony; they also echo martial triumph.

• Lanterns: Evoke light, guidance, and joy; lantern processions symbolize bright futures and prosperity.

• Pine tree: A Daoist symbol of resilience, longevity, and steadfast virtue, often used in imperial decorative programs.

• Garden rocks and pavilions: Represent stability and cultivated refinement, evoking the classical scholar’s garden as a metaphor for cosmic order and dynastic harmony.

Comparisons:

• A closely related Qianlong famille-rose “Hundred Boys” vase, painted with similar lively parading boys, was sold at Christie’s New York, 19 March 2015, lot 3524, for USD 245,000.

• Another large famille-rose vase with “Hundred Boys” theme, Qianlong mark and period, realized HKD 3,125,000 at Sotheby’s Hong Kong, 8 October 2019, lot 3641.

• A comparable example in the Palace Museum, Beijing (The Complete Collection of Treasures of the Palace Museum: Porcelains with Painted Enamels of the Qing Dynasty, vol. II, no. 165) features a near-identical arrangement of boys in procession, affirming the imperial context of such wares.

The present vase, combining large scale, luminous famille-rose palette, and a densely rendered auspicious subject, exemplifies the Qianlong emperor’s taste for porcelains that fused technical brilliance with symbolic imagery designed to express dynastic stability and continuity.

For lots marked with (R), a 19% VAT is added to the combined hammer price and commission. This VAT is waived for:

- Private buyers outside the EU who officially export the items.
- Businesses inside the EU holding a valid VAT number, exporting to their home country.

Proper export documentation is required to waive the VAT