AN EXTREMELY RARE AND SUPERBLY DECORATED LARGE DOUCAI GLOBULAR VASE

Details
AN EXTREMELY RARE AND SUPERBLY DECORATED LARGE DOUCAI GLOBULAR VASE
YONGZHENG SEAL MARK AND OF THE PERIOD

The vase is finely and densely enamelled to the globular body with four floral medallions each containing a central hydrangea spray with scrolling leaves surrounded by five smaller chrysanthemum heads, the sides are decorated with scrolling leaves issuing flower-heads, the base with crested waves crashing against upright rockwork, the tapering shoulders with interlacing ruyi-heads below a band containing detached floral sprays in profile, the tall, straight neck enamelled with further floral sprays paired with the Eight Buddhist Emblems, all below a frieze at the mouth decorated with wan emblems tied with ribbons, glaze imperfection on rim infilled
20 1/2 in. (51 cm.) high, box
Literature
Yeh Pei-Lan, Gems of the Doucai, Beauty of Ceramics, vol. 6, 1993, pl. 90.
Sotheby's Hong Kong Twenty Years, 1993, pl. 238.
The Tsui Museum of Art, Chinese Ceramics, vol. IV, 1995, pl. 130.
Splendour of Ancient Chinese Art, Selections from the Collections of T.T. Tsui Galleries of Chinese Art Worldwide, 1996, no. 71.
Exhibited
Art Treasures from Shanghai and Hong Kong, University Museum and Art Gallery, Hong Kong, 9 November 1996 - 25 January 1997, Catalogue, pl. 58. p. 123.

Lot Essay

Previously sold in Hong Kong, 23 May 1978, lot 240.

No other vase with this elaborate decoration appears to be published.

Compare the present vase with a large doucai-enamelled jardinere, gang, similarly decorated with lotus medallions and interlocking ruyi-heads, illustrated in Selected Ceramics From the Collection of Mr. & Mrs. J.M. Hu, Shanghai Museum, no. 68, p. 104; another related example is illustrated in Sekai Toji Zenshu, vol. 15, no. 94-95, p. 87.

Hydrangea, xiuqiu, is a homonym for 'longevity ball' and thus holds an auspicious meaning. For other examples of the very rare hydrangea motif found on Qing porcelain, cf. a Kangxi-marked floral dish from the Jingguantang collection sold in these Rooms, 5 November 1997, lot 876; and a Kangxi yuzhi-marked bowl with a spray of hydrangeas prominent among other flowers on a yellow-ground sold in Hong Kong, 13 May 1976, lot 364.

(US$450,000-580,000)

More from The Imperial Sale & Fine Chinese Works of Art

View All
View All