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Lot Essay
The current jar is very rare and very few other examples appear to have been published. The form of this jar is possibly inspired by alms bowls of the Song dynasty, such as a Guan example in the National Palace Museum, Taipei, illustrated in Catalogue of the Special Exhibition of Sung Dynasty. Kuan Ware, Taipei, 1989, p. 80, pl. 39. The only other identical example appears to be the one exhibited in Chinese Ceramic Art: Innovation and Imitation, New York, 1988, no. 59, and later sold at Christie's Hong Kong, 1 June 2011, lot 3735. A Jun-type glazed jar with somewhat wider shoulders and an impressed Yongzheng mark is illustrated by J. Ayers in The Baur Collection Chinese Ceramics, vol. III, Geneva, 1972, no. A356.
Another Ru-type glazed jar with an integral stand is illustrated in Monochrome Porcelain, The Complete Collection of Treasures of the Palace Museum, Hong Kong, 1999, pl. 214.
The Yongzheng emperor appears to have had particular admiration for Ru wares and a number of vessels from his reign were made with fine Ru-style glazes. It is possible that the copy of Song dynasty Ru ware glazes made for the Yongzheng emperor was devised by the greatest of all the supervisors of the Imperial Kilns, Tang Ying, who first came to the kilns as resident assistant in 1728. Tang Ying was especially known for his highly successful imitation of early wares. Indeed the Jingdezhen taolu notes that: 'His close copies of famous wares of the past were without exception worthy partners (of the originals); and his copies of every kind of well-known glaze were without exception cleverly matched ...' translated by R. Kerr in Chinese Ceramics - porcelain of the Qing Dynasty 1644-1911, London, 1986, p. 20.
Another Ru-type glazed jar with an integral stand is illustrated in Monochrome Porcelain, The Complete Collection of Treasures of the Palace Museum, Hong Kong, 1999, pl. 214.
The Yongzheng emperor appears to have had particular admiration for Ru wares and a number of vessels from his reign were made with fine Ru-style glazes. It is possible that the copy of Song dynasty Ru ware glazes made for the Yongzheng emperor was devised by the greatest of all the supervisors of the Imperial Kilns, Tang Ying, who first came to the kilns as resident assistant in 1728. Tang Ying was especially known for his highly successful imitation of early wares. Indeed the Jingdezhen taolu notes that: 'His close copies of famous wares of the past were without exception worthy partners (of the originals); and his copies of every kind of well-known glaze were without exception cleverly matched ...' translated by R. Kerr in Chinese Ceramics - porcelain of the Qing Dynasty 1644-1911, London, 1986, p. 20.