SILVER-GROUND IRON-RED DECORATED TIBETAN-STYLE EWER, PENBA HU QING DYNASTY, QIANLONG MARK, 18TH-19TH CENTURY 清 乾隆款 銀地礬紅彩八吉祥紋賁巴壺 the globular body raised on a spreading foot to a stepped neck, thick disc-shaped mouth, applied with a curved spout issuing from the moulded makara head, the body painted with the Eight Buddhist Emblems interspersed by leafy lotus flowers and scrolling, intertwining tendrils, framed by lotus lappets and ruyi-head motifs, the foot and mouth rims decorated with bands of raised bosses, inscribed on the base with a six-character Qianlong mark in iron-red against a silver ground (18.5cm high) Qty: (1) Note: Ewers of this form, imitating the Tibetan metalwork, were first made in the Qianlong twenty-second year, 1757AD. They were intended either for use on the Buddhist altars in the palaces and temples of Beijing and Chengde, or as gifts for Tibetan lamas visiting the Imperial Court. According to the Qing court archives, the tribute list from Mukedeng on 29 July fiftieth year of Qianlong period, 1785AD, there was a pair of silver-ground iron-red decorated Penba Ewers. Compare to a highly similar example, with a six-character Qianlong mark, dated to the period, sold at Poly Macau, 3 Jan 2020, lot 939; Also compare to a similar example, Qianlong four character seal mark and of the period, sold at Christie's London, 12 Nov 2004, lot 602. Ewers like such were also made in different forms, see a turquoise-ground gilt-decorated Penba ewer, with the impressed eight auspicious symbols, dated to Qianlong period, is in the collection of The Palace Museum, Taipei, museum no. '中瓷003994N000000000'.