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Lot Essay
This vase exhibits an exceptionally rich flambé glaze which is thick and of deep tones varying from dark red to purple and lavender-blue. This distinctive glaze seeks to emulate the famous earlier Jun wares of the Song dynasty, and the splashes and streaks characteristic of this glaze are described as yao bian, or 'transmutation glaze'.
As early as the third (1725) and sixth year (1728) of the Yongzheng reign, the emperor requested for the Jun vessels in the Palace to be identified and requests were made for this type of glaze to be reproduced at the imperial kilns in Jingdezhen. In the seventh year of the Yongzheng reign (1729), Tang Ying, the renowned Superintendent of the imperial kilns, sent Wu Yaopu to Junzhou in Henan to investigate the glaze recipe of early Jun ware. Wu's mission appeared to be successful as palace records indicated that after 1730 the emperor frequently ordered the firing of Jun-type vessels (See Harmony and Integrity: The Yongzheng Emperor and His Times, Taipei, 2009, pp. 227-228).
A Yongzheng-marked compressed globular vase of similar size to the present example, with a more blue-streaked glaze, is in the Palace Museum, Beijing, and is illustrated by Geng Baochang, ed., in Gugong Bowuyuan cang Qingdai yuyao ciqi [Porcelains from the Qing dynasty imperial kilns in the Palace Museum collection], Beijing, 2005, vol. 1, part 2, pp. 292-293, no. 132. Other examples are known with a slight variation of bow-string bands on the neck as well as the body, such as an example from the YC Chen Collection, sold at Christie’s Hong Kong, 29 May 2013, lot 1901.
As early as the third (1725) and sixth year (1728) of the Yongzheng reign, the emperor requested for the Jun vessels in the Palace to be identified and requests were made for this type of glaze to be reproduced at the imperial kilns in Jingdezhen. In the seventh year of the Yongzheng reign (1729), Tang Ying, the renowned Superintendent of the imperial kilns, sent Wu Yaopu to Junzhou in Henan to investigate the glaze recipe of early Jun ware. Wu's mission appeared to be successful as palace records indicated that after 1730 the emperor frequently ordered the firing of Jun-type vessels (See Harmony and Integrity: The Yongzheng Emperor and His Times, Taipei, 2009, pp. 227-228).
A Yongzheng-marked compressed globular vase of similar size to the present example, with a more blue-streaked glaze, is in the Palace Museum, Beijing, and is illustrated by Geng Baochang, ed., in Gugong Bowuyuan cang Qingdai yuyao ciqi [Porcelains from the Qing dynasty imperial kilns in the Palace Museum collection], Beijing, 2005, vol. 1, part 2, pp. 292-293, no. 132. Other examples are known with a slight variation of bow-string bands on the neck as well as the body, such as an example from the YC Chen Collection, sold at Christie’s Hong Kong, 29 May 2013, lot 1901.