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Lot Essay
This exceptionally rare vase represents a masterful combination of archaistic form, glaze inspired by the Song dynasty, and the technical and artistic refinement achieved at the imperial kilns during the Yongzheng reign. Its conception also reflects the emperor’s personal antiquarian taste and the court’s continuous engagement with the material culture of earlier periods. Like his father, the Kangxi Emperor, and his son, the Qianlong Emperor, the Yongzheng Emperor was an avid connoisseur of antiquities, and all three rulers actively commissioned works in archaistic styles for use at court.
The present vase closely follows the form of a Tang-dynasty (AD 618–907) amphora, while its glaze reinterprets the luminous celadon wares of the Southern Song (1127-1278) Longquan kilns. It epitomizes the refined aesthetic of guya (‘antique elegance’) for which Yongzheng porcelains are especially celebrated. Tang amphora are characterized by strongly profiled silhouettes, with broad shoulders tapering to a relatively narrow foot and flat base. Their necks are tall and slender, often encircled by raised rings recalling bamboo nodes, and the everted mouth is typically flanked by handles terminating in dragon heads that appear to bite the rim. Surviving Tang examples were produced either with monochrome glazes, most commonly white, though occasionally green or amber, or decorated in the sancai palette.
During the 18th century, amphora of this archaistic form were fired at the imperial kilns at Jingdezhen under the Yongzheng and Qianlong emperors. These later interpretations were executed in porcelain and finished with monochrome glazes or, in some cases, underglaze blue decoration. A Yongzheng example of identical form and closely comparable celadon glaze is in the Shenyang Palace Museum and illustrated in The Prime Cultural Relics Collected by Shenyang Imperial Palace Museum – Chinaware, vol. 2, Shenyang, 2008, pp. 62–63, no. 5 (52 cm. high). Another celadon-glazed Yongzheng amphora of the same type, formerly in the Elizabeth Severance Prentiss Collection, is now in the Cleveland Museum of Art (52.1 cm high; acc. no. 1944.190). (Fig. 1) A further related example (51.8 cm. high) was sold at Christie’s New York, 22 March 1999, lot 331, and subsequently at Dragon & Phoenix: 800 Years of Patronage; Christie’s Hong Kong, 1 November 2004, lot 872. (Fig. 2)
Additional monochrome variants demonstrate the popularity of the form. A sky-blue-glazed example is in the Palace Museum, Beijing, and illustrated in Zhongguo wenwu jinghua daquan: taoci juan, Taipei, 1993, p. 433, no. 906. Teadust-glazed versions are illustrated by J. Ayers in Chinese Ceramics in the Koger Collection, London, 1985 and in Chinese Ceramics in the Idemitsu Collection, 1987, no. 962. An example with a Guan-type glaze in the Walters Art Museum, Baltimore, is illustrated by S. W. Bushell in Oriental Ceramic Art, New York, 1980, p. 82, fig. 116.
The present vase closely follows the form of a Tang-dynasty (AD 618–907) amphora, while its glaze reinterprets the luminous celadon wares of the Southern Song (1127-1278) Longquan kilns. It epitomizes the refined aesthetic of guya (‘antique elegance’) for which Yongzheng porcelains are especially celebrated. Tang amphora are characterized by strongly profiled silhouettes, with broad shoulders tapering to a relatively narrow foot and flat base. Their necks are tall and slender, often encircled by raised rings recalling bamboo nodes, and the everted mouth is typically flanked by handles terminating in dragon heads that appear to bite the rim. Surviving Tang examples were produced either with monochrome glazes, most commonly white, though occasionally green or amber, or decorated in the sancai palette.
During the 18th century, amphora of this archaistic form were fired at the imperial kilns at Jingdezhen under the Yongzheng and Qianlong emperors. These later interpretations were executed in porcelain and finished with monochrome glazes or, in some cases, underglaze blue decoration. A Yongzheng example of identical form and closely comparable celadon glaze is in the Shenyang Palace Museum and illustrated in The Prime Cultural Relics Collected by Shenyang Imperial Palace Museum – Chinaware, vol. 2, Shenyang, 2008, pp. 62–63, no. 5 (52 cm. high). Another celadon-glazed Yongzheng amphora of the same type, formerly in the Elizabeth Severance Prentiss Collection, is now in the Cleveland Museum of Art (52.1 cm high; acc. no. 1944.190). (Fig. 1) A further related example (51.8 cm. high) was sold at Christie’s New York, 22 March 1999, lot 331, and subsequently at Dragon & Phoenix: 800 Years of Patronage; Christie’s Hong Kong, 1 November 2004, lot 872. (Fig. 2)
Additional monochrome variants demonstrate the popularity of the form. A sky-blue-glazed example is in the Palace Museum, Beijing, and illustrated in Zhongguo wenwu jinghua daquan: taoci juan, Taipei, 1993, p. 433, no. 906. Teadust-glazed versions are illustrated by J. Ayers in Chinese Ceramics in the Koger Collection, London, 1985 and in Chinese Ceramics in the Idemitsu Collection, 1987, no. 962. An example with a Guan-type glaze in the Walters Art Museum, Baltimore, is illustrated by S. W. Bushell in Oriental Ceramic Art, New York, 1980, p. 82, fig. 116.