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Lot Essay
The body and tall neck are covered with a rich vibrant strawberry-crackled glaze, the unique greenish band on the mouth rim is delicately incised with a pacing chi-dragon and a mythical beast and painted in black enamel.
Langyao wares from the Kangxi period are usually covered with a high-fired copper-red glaze or copper-green glaze. The current vase, with a combination of copper-red glaze and a band of low-fired green enamel on the mouth, further adorned with dragons in black enamels, is almost unseen on other examples and might possibly be unique, making it extremely rare. It is all the more remarkable for its small size, which is ideal for scholarly desk display and appreciation.
Compare to two larger Langyao red-glazed bottle vases, but without incised decorations, one sold at Christie’s Hong Kong, The Au Bak Ling Collection, Volume II, 30 October 2025, lot 923; and one sold at Christie’s New York, The Collection of Robert Hatfield Ellsworth Part III, 19 March 2015, lot 449.
Vibrant red glazes had always been treasured by the Qing emperors. Emperor Qianlong, for example, highly admired copper-red glazed vases and composed poems to express his affection. One such poem is published in Qinggaozong Yuzhi Shiwen Quanji – Yuzhishi Siji, Vol. 21, 1976, Taipei, p. 585.
Langyao wares from the Kangxi period are usually covered with a high-fired copper-red glaze or copper-green glaze. The current vase, with a combination of copper-red glaze and a band of low-fired green enamel on the mouth, further adorned with dragons in black enamels, is almost unseen on other examples and might possibly be unique, making it extremely rare. It is all the more remarkable for its small size, which is ideal for scholarly desk display and appreciation.
Compare to two larger Langyao red-glazed bottle vases, but without incised decorations, one sold at Christie’s Hong Kong, The Au Bak Ling Collection, Volume II, 30 October 2025, lot 923; and one sold at Christie’s New York, The Collection of Robert Hatfield Ellsworth Part III, 19 March 2015, lot 449.
Vibrant red glazes had always been treasured by the Qing emperors. Emperor Qianlong, for example, highly admired copper-red glazed vases and composed poems to express his affection. One such poem is published in Qinggaozong Yuzhi Shiwen Quanji – Yuzhishi Siji, Vol. 21, 1976, Taipei, p. 585.