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Lot Essay
The present vase with a bulbous upper neck, resembling a garlic bulb, is known in a Chinese as suantouping (garlic-head vase). The garlic-head shape gained popularity in the Ming and Qing dynasties. The shape, was probably inspired by ritual bronze hu vessels of the late Warring States period, 4th-3rd century BC, such as the one illustrated by Jenny So in Eastern Zhou Ritual Bronzes from the Arthur M. Sackler Collections, New York, 1995, no. 52.
The underglaze blue decoration of the present vase is inspired by designs from the Yongle and Xuande periods, showing individual fruiting branches dynamically arranged around the body. According to palace archival records, on the third year of Qianlong (1738), a ‘Xuande blue and white garlic-head vase’ was presented to Tang Ying, who was ordered to make copies and to return the Xuande vase to the palace after firing. Qianlong vase of this shape and design include the example in the collection of the National Palace Museum, Taipei, illustrated in Porcelain of the National Palace Museum. Blue and White Ware of the Ch’ ing Dynasty, Hong Kong, 1968, vol. 2, pls. 5a-c; in the Capital Museum, Beijing, illustrated in Zhongguo gu taoci quanji [Complete series on Chinese ceramics], Shanghai, 1999-2000, vol. 15, pl. 8; and in the Shanghai Museum, illustrated by Zhou Lili, Qingdai Yongzheng-Xuantong guanyao ciqi Shanghai, 2014, pl. 4-18. See, also, the similar Qianlong vase from the collection of T. Y. Chao (1912-1999), sold at Sotheby’s Hong Kong, 18 November 1986, lot 81, and again, at Sotheby’s Hong Kong, 3 April 2019, lot 14, from the Tianminlou Collection. Another comparable Qianlong example was sold at Celestial Brilliance –The Wang Xing Lou Collection of Imperial Qing Dynasty Porcelain; Christie’s Hong Kong, 30 May 2022, lot 2718.
The underglaze blue decoration of the present vase is inspired by designs from the Yongle and Xuande periods, showing individual fruiting branches dynamically arranged around the body. According to palace archival records, on the third year of Qianlong (1738), a ‘Xuande blue and white garlic-head vase’ was presented to Tang Ying, who was ordered to make copies and to return the Xuande vase to the palace after firing. Qianlong vase of this shape and design include the example in the collection of the National Palace Museum, Taipei, illustrated in Porcelain of the National Palace Museum. Blue and White Ware of the Ch’ ing Dynasty, Hong Kong, 1968, vol. 2, pls. 5a-c; in the Capital Museum, Beijing, illustrated in Zhongguo gu taoci quanji [Complete series on Chinese ceramics], Shanghai, 1999-2000, vol. 15, pl. 8; and in the Shanghai Museum, illustrated by Zhou Lili, Qingdai Yongzheng-Xuantong guanyao ciqi Shanghai, 2014, pl. 4-18. See, also, the similar Qianlong vase from the collection of T. Y. Chao (1912-1999), sold at Sotheby’s Hong Kong, 18 November 1986, lot 81, and again, at Sotheby’s Hong Kong, 3 April 2019, lot 14, from the Tianminlou Collection. Another comparable Qianlong example was sold at Celestial Brilliance –The Wang Xing Lou Collection of Imperial Qing Dynasty Porcelain; Christie’s Hong Kong, 30 May 2022, lot 2718.