A SQUARE BLUE AND WHITE 'RED CLIFF' VASE
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A SQUARE BLUE AND WHITE 'RED CLIFF' VASE

KANGXI SIX-CHARACTER MARK AND OF THE PERIOD (1662-1722), CIRCA 1680-90

Details
A SQUARE BLUE AND WHITE 'RED CLIFF' VASE
Kangxi six-character mark and of the period (1662-1722), circa 1680-90
Of stoutly potted form with gently flaring sides painted within shaped panels, on one side with a poet, his friend and attendants in a boat beneath a cliff, and on the opposite face with a similar scene with the poet having climbed up the cliff, all in an extensive riverscape, the other two sides with lengthy inscriptions relating two odes, the horizontal shoulders with floral sprays and the waisted neck with bamboo, minor chips and fritting
19¼ in. (49cm.) high
Special notice
No VAT will be charged on the hammer price, but VAT at 17.5% will be added to the buyer's premium which is invoiced on a VAT inclusive basis.

Lot Essay

The calligraphy recounts two Odes to the Red Cliff by the Song poet, Su Dongpo, and the landscapes illustrate scenes from the odes. See Julia B. Curtis' paper 'Markets and Motifs on Seventeenth Century Porcelain from Jingdezhen', in The Porcelains of Jingdezhen, Colloquies on Art & Archaeology in Asia No. 16, Percival David Foundation, London, 1992, pp. 144 and 145 for a discussion on square blue and white 'Red Cliff' vases, drawing particular attention to the most frequently encountered which are inscribed on two sides with Su Dongpo's 'Odes to the Red Cliff', such as on the present lot. Ms. Curtis quotes an observation by Margaret Medley that the painting of the landscapes on these vases is executed "with a great refinement in a very minute and careful style".

A 'Red Cliff' square vase very similar to the present lot is in the Shanghai Museum, illustrated Kangxi Porcelain Wares, Hong Kong, 1998, pp. 42 and 43, pl. 31; another, also very similar, is illustrated by Julia Curtis, Chinese Porcelains of the Seventeenth Century, New York, 1995, p. 84, no. 26. Three further similar examples from his own collection, are illustrated by Sir Michael Butler, 'Chinese Porcelain at the Beginning of Qing', ransactions of the Oriental Ceramic Society 1884-1985, London, 1986, pls. 38 - 40, and discussed on pp. 33-36.

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