Large Thick Walled Vase

1736-1795 C.E.

This large pale-blue celadon vase was made by the imperial workshop for the guan (official) class of Confucian scholar-officials. On the base of the vessel are both the seal and the six-character reign mark of the Qianlong Emperor. As a Manchu ruling Han Chinese, the Qianlong Emperor looked back to the great golden ages of Chinese history and utilized these artistic references as a political means to enhance his own legitimacy.

During the rule of this avid collector of antiquities, the shapes and decorative motifs of ancient bronzes served as models for many ceramic forms and designs. The fixed ring handles with animal-head masks on this vase refer back to earlier Shang and Zhou dynasty bronzes used in rituals to the ancestors, with the clay here stained black under the handles to recall those earlier bronze handles.