A pair of Chinese cloisonné 'ganglu ping' or holy water vases, 18/19th C.

H.: 22,9 cm 

The shape of this bottle vase is similar to iron-red-decorated porcelain examples made during the Qianlong period as court gifts to Tibetan monks.

Ref:
- Christie's, New York, September 18, 2014, lot 628, for a comparable example. (sold USD 23.750) (link)
- The Emperor Qianlong is portrayed with one of these porcelain vases on a table next to him in a painting by Giuseppe Castiglione illustrated by E.S. Rawski and J. Rawson (eds.) in China: The Three Emperors, London, 2005, p. 282, no. 194.
- Another porcelain example in the collection of the Nanjing Museum is illustrated by Xu Huping in Treasures in the Royalty: The Official Kiln Porcelain of the Chinese Qing Dynasty, Shanghai, 2003, p. 225,.
- A pair in the collection of the National Palace Museum, Taiwan, is illustrated in Monarchy and Its Buddhist Way: Tibetan-Buddhist Ritual Implements in the National Palace Museum, Taipei, 1999, p. 184, no. 91.