EDITOR’S NOTE: Curio is a CNN Style series spotlighting small objects and the big ideas behind them.
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.
Standing at just over eight inches, the curiously contemporary-looking object bears the reign mark of the Qianlong Emperor. Such Chinese characters were inscribed or stamped on most of the hundreds of thousands of works made during the Chinese monarch’s rule in the 18th century.
Qianlong, one of history’s greatest and most prolific collectors, had opulent taste and seemingly bottomless funds. “He loved the profusion of colors, and textures, and all kinds of fine things,” said Daisy Wang, Deputy Director and Chief Curator at the Hong Kong Palace Museum, which until this August, exhibited the vase on loan from the Beijing Palace Museum.
