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Lot Essay
The text written on one vase is an excerpt from Treaties on Calligraphy (Shu Pu) by the Tang dynasty poet and calligrapher Sun Guoting. The text inscribed on the other vase is an excerpt from Seventeen Posts (Shi Qi Tie) by the Jin dynasty calligrapher Wang Xizhi. Each excerpt is preceded by an oval seal reading Tao Chen tang, a hallmark used by the famous Superintendent of the Imperial Kilns, Tang Ying (1682-1756), and followed by, Maoyuan Wu Yue xi shu (playfully written by Wu Yue of Mao Yuan). A Qing dynasty official named Wu Yue is recorded as having been stationed in Yixing, Jiangsu province from 1755-56.
A vase of similar shape decorated in underglaze blue and red on one side with a branch of peony and a poetic inscription on the reverse, in the Qing Court Collection, is illustrated in The Complete Collection of Treasures of the Palace Museum - Blue and White Porcelain with Underglazed Red (III), Hong Kong, 2000, p. 215, no. 196, where it is dated to the Yongzheng period. The text on the Palace vase is flanked by underglaze-red seals reading, Wu Fu (Hall of Wu), and Tao Cheng zhi bao (treasure of Tao Cheng).
A vase of similar shape decorated in underglaze blue and red on one side with a branch of peony and a poetic inscription on the reverse, in the Qing Court Collection, is illustrated in The Complete Collection of Treasures of the Palace Museum - Blue and White Porcelain with Underglazed Red (III), Hong Kong, 2000, p. 215, no. 196, where it is dated to the Yongzheng period. The text on the Palace vase is flanked by underglaze-red seals reading, Wu Fu (Hall of Wu), and Tao Cheng zhi bao (treasure of Tao Cheng).