The spiral vase recently featured in a Hong Kong Palace Museum exhibition this summer. It belongs to the Beijing Palace Museum's permanent collection.
Hong Kong — There’s a plucky little Qing Dynasty artifact that at first glance looks out of place among China’s many Forbidden City treasures. Instead of the ornate porcelain and cloisonné enameling often associated with imperial vases, this one is made of blown glass. With its swirling red, white and blue ribbons and emerald green base and mouth, it evokes a spinning barbershop pole; an item which could slot straight into a 1960s living room.
The Qianlong Emperor depicted in a painting, surrounded by fine works of art. He ruled China from 1735 to 1796 during the Qing Dynasty.
A portrait of Qianlong Emperor by Italian Jesuit missionary Giuseppe Castiglione, who served the Qing Dynasty court as a painter for the Kangxi, Yongzheng and Qianlong emperor.
There’s no evidence, so far, supporting that Qianlong personally commissioned the vase sitting in the Bristol collection. But it’s clear he took a “close interest” in output from the glass atelier. Newnham said imperial archives from 1753 include the emperor’s instructions to make a few more “threaded-glass” pitchers after seeing some presented by a French Jesuit craftsman.
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