YONGZHENG SIX-CHARACTER MARK IN UNDERGLAZE BLUE WITHIN A DOUBLE CIRCLE AND OF THE PERIOD (1723-1735)

The present elegantly proportioned pear-shaped vase rises from a gently splayed foot to a slender neck and flared mouth. Its exterior is covered in a rich, lustrous red glaze of deep tone, which subtly darkens both below the mouth rim and just above the foot.

Yongzheng-marked yuhuchunping of this type can be found in both public museum collections and private hands. For comparison, see one in the Palace Museum, Beijing, illustrated in Kangxi, Yongzheng, Qianlong- Qing Porcelain from the Palace Museum Collection, Hong Kong, 1989, p. 287, no. 116. The National Palace Museum, Taipei, also holds several examples of this type in its collection, all slightly larger in size than the present lot; for one such example, see collection no.: zhongci002599N (fig. 1). One from the T. Y. Chao collection, included in the Ch’ing Porcelain from the Wah Kwong Collection, Hong Kong, 1973, pl. 5. A further example in the Tsui Museum of Art, illustrated in Chinese Ceramics IV Qing Dynasty, Hong Kong, 1995, pl. 24.