China, 16^th-17^th century. Heavily cast with an integral openworked stand of square form raised on four bracket feet supporting the waisted foot surmounted by a compressed pear-shaped body rising to a long cylindrical neck:

Encircled by the separately cast clambering chilong which is meticulously detailed with the limbs, spine, and long curling tail neatly incised with fur tufts distinct from its wispy mane issuing from the ferocious head with bulging eyes, scroll ears, ruyi snout, and the mouth wide open in a powerful roar revealing teeth and tongue.

Provenance: The George Forrest Collection of Chinese Bronzes, and thence by direct descent in the family. Once on loan to the National Museum of Scotland, Edinburgh, still bearing a museum label tied to the base and inscribed ‘Loan 331/6’, deaccessioned in 2023. A copy of an old photograph of the vase, taken while it was still in the collection of Forrest, accompanies this lot. George Forrest (1873-1932) was an important Scottish botanist born in Falkirk. He conducted expeditions to China's remote southwestern province of Yunnan, in search of plants new to horticulture in Europe. He was sponsored by a horticulturist and cotton broker named Arthur Kilpin Bulley (1861-1942) who had a keen interest in finding a new species of rhododendron. Altogether, Forrest made seven trips to the region, ranging as far afield as upper Burma, eastern Tibet and Sichuan province. The majority of his collection of Chinese art, which he amassed during his travels, was donated to the National Museum of Scotland in Edinburgh.
Condition: Very good condition with minor old wear, expected casting flaws, small nicks, few scratches, and a small loss to the base. The bronze is covered in a rich, dark patina. Overall displaying exceptionally well!

Weight: 3,633 g
Dimensions: Height 32.4 cm

Expert’s note: The present lot is highly impressive for its separately cast chilong, which makes it much rarer than the typical bronze dragon vases such as those illustrated by Rose Kerr, Later Chinese Bronzes, Victoria and Albert Museum, London, 1990, p. 42, no. 29. The type has clearly also struck the fancy of the Qing elite, as evidenced for example by a teadust-glazed and gilt-splashed bottle vase applied with a chilong, with a Qianlong mark and of the period, at Sotheby’s Hong Kong, 7 October 2015, lot 3682. However, variations of the form already existed during the Ming dynasty, see for example a relief-decorated and polychrome-enameled vase with coiling dragon, dated to the 16^th century, in the Metropolitan Museum of Art, accession number 91.1.311.

Auction result comparison:
Type: Closely related
Auction: Sotheby’s New York, 11 September 2019, lot 863
Price: USD 22,500 or approx. EUR 25,500 converted and adjusted for inflation at the time of writing
Description: A large parcel-gilt bronze ‘chilong’ garlic mouth bottle vase, Ming dynasty, 16^th/17^th century
Expert remark: This is a good example of the more common chilong vase type, with parcel-gilding, a garlic mouth, and two chilong which are however not cast separately but in “very high relief”. Additionally, it lacks the integral stand of the present lot. Note the size (47 cm).