.jpg?w=1)
Lot Essay
The form of the current vase is very unusual and may be based on an earlier prototype such as a holy water bottle. Porcelain vessels of this shape are known from the Yongle period onwards. See a fragmentary holy water jar measuring 27 cm. high, excavated from the Yongle-period strata at Zhushan, cf. Ceramic Finds from Jingdezhen Kilns, Hong Kong, 1992, fig. 201. Another similar example dated to the Xuande period, with a broadly tapering body and splayed foot, decorated with flower-sprays and petal bands, is illustrated in Zhongguo Taoci Quanji, The Great Treasury of Chinese Ceramics, vol. 19, Shanghai, 1983, fig. 12. It appears that this shape was revived during the Yongzheng period when archaism was favoured at the Imperial court, with earlier ceramics and bronzes readily available in Beijing as models for potters responding to the taste for the antique. A Yongzheng-marked vase of closely related shape to the current lot, with a crackled glaze imitating Guan ware, is illustrated by J. Ayers in The Baur Collection, vol. III, Geneva, 1969, no. A348, which the author suggests may be imitating an earlier Song or Ming bronze type.
The rich glaze on this vase emulates the celebrated Jun ware glaze from the Song period. For a discussion of this type of glaze layered with streaks and splashes, known as yao bian, or 'transmutation glaze', see Rose Kerr, 'Jun Wares and their Qing dynasty Imitation at Jingdezhen', in Rosemary Scott (ed.) The Porcelains of Jingdezhen, Colloquies on Art & Archaeology in Asia No. 16, London, 1993, p. 151-164; and Nigel Wood, 'The Evolution of the Chinese Copper Red' in Rosemary Scott (ed.) Chinese Copper Red Wares, London, 1992, pp. 29-30. Rose Kerr notes that Lan Pu in the Jingdezhen tao lu, which was mostly written during the latter years of the Qianlong reign, suggests that the 18th century wares produced in Jingdezhen are superior to the wares of the Song and Yuan dynasties. He writes: 'Jun ware red pieces that the ancients made were composed of rough, coarse-grained clay tinged with yellow, and though the glaze colour is lively they are not fine pieces. today, Jingdezhen selects clean, fine, white clay to mould the body, and then applies red glaze. in this way the red colour has a much richer appearance.'
A vase decorated with a similarly rich flambé glaze, with the same type of Yongzheng mark, is in the collection of the Palace Museum in Beijing, illustrated in The Complete Collection of Treasures of the Palace Museum – 37 – Monochrome Porcelain, Hong Kong, 1999, p. 198, pl. 179. An almost identical vase to the present lot was included in an exhibition held by the Art Museum at the Chinese University of Hong Kong, illustrated in Shimmering Colours: Monochromes of the Yuan to Qing Periods, The Zhuyuetang Collection, Hong Kong, 2005, front cover & p. 256, pl. 176, Also compare a vase of similar shape and colour from the Robert Chang Collection and formerly in the Winkworth Collection, sold at Christie’s Hong Kong, 2 November 1999, lot 512.
The rich glaze on this vase emulates the celebrated Jun ware glaze from the Song period. For a discussion of this type of glaze layered with streaks and splashes, known as yao bian, or 'transmutation glaze', see Rose Kerr, 'Jun Wares and their Qing dynasty Imitation at Jingdezhen', in Rosemary Scott (ed.) The Porcelains of Jingdezhen, Colloquies on Art & Archaeology in Asia No. 16, London, 1993, p. 151-164; and Nigel Wood, 'The Evolution of the Chinese Copper Red' in Rosemary Scott (ed.) Chinese Copper Red Wares, London, 1992, pp. 29-30. Rose Kerr notes that Lan Pu in the Jingdezhen tao lu, which was mostly written during the latter years of the Qianlong reign, suggests that the 18th century wares produced in Jingdezhen are superior to the wares of the Song and Yuan dynasties. He writes: 'Jun ware red pieces that the ancients made were composed of rough, coarse-grained clay tinged with yellow, and though the glaze colour is lively they are not fine pieces. today, Jingdezhen selects clean, fine, white clay to mould the body, and then applies red glaze. in this way the red colour has a much richer appearance.'
A vase decorated with a similarly rich flambé glaze, with the same type of Yongzheng mark, is in the collection of the Palace Museum in Beijing, illustrated in The Complete Collection of Treasures of the Palace Museum – 37 – Monochrome Porcelain, Hong Kong, 1999, p. 198, pl. 179. An almost identical vase to the present lot was included in an exhibition held by the Art Museum at the Chinese University of Hong Kong, illustrated in Shimmering Colours: Monochromes of the Yuan to Qing Periods, The Zhuyuetang Collection, Hong Kong, 2005, front cover & p. 256, pl. 176, Also compare a vase of similar shape and colour from the Robert Chang Collection and formerly in the Winkworth Collection, sold at Christie’s Hong Kong, 2 November 1999, lot 512.