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Lot Essay
Yongzheng meiping decorated in underglaze copper red with a similar design to that of the current vase are in the collections of both the Palace Museum, Beijing and the National Palace Museum, Taipei. The first is illustrated in Kangxi Yongzheng Qianlong, Qing Porcelain, Hongkong, Woods Publishing, 1989, p. 194, no. 23; the second appears in Illustrated Catalogue of Ch'ing Dynasty Porcelain in the National Palace Museum, Taiwan, 1974, pl. 86. Others are in famous museums outside China, such as the Hermitage Museum, published by T. Aropova in Chinese Porcelains in the Hermitage Museum, Leningrad, 1977, no. 195, and the Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, illustrated by W.E. Cox in The Book of Pottery and Porcelain, vol. II, 1949, pl. 164, top right. Examples from well known private collections have been sold in our New York rooms, including one from the collection of Stephen Junkunc III, sold 21 September 1995, lot 225, and another previously in the collection of Mary J. Morgan, sold 28 March 1996, lot 385.
This very successful design also appears in a slightly different form, including some underglaze blue elements, on a small number of vases which also bear apocryphal Xuande marks. One of these is in the National Palace Museum and was exhibited in the Special Exhibition of Dragon Motif Porcelain, Taiwan, 1983, no. 84, while another in the Baur Collection, is illustrated by J. Ayers in The Baur Collection Geneva - Chinese Ceramics, volume IV, Geneva, 1974, no. A526. A version of the design also appears in underglaze blue, as on the Yongzheng meiping in the Palace Museum Beijing, illustrated in Kangxi Yongzheng Qianlong, op. cit., p. 178, no. 7.
These Yongzheng vases are characteristic of the Qing court's fascination with, and admiration of, 15th century porcelains. A Yongle (1403-1424) meiping with dragons in similar positions reserved against underglaze copper red waves is illustrated by Geng Baochang in Ming Qing Ciqi Jianding, Beijing, 1993, p. 19, pl. 26C. The Yongzheng vase follows the style of the 15th century meiping quite closely except that on the 18th century piece the decoration reaches the mouth rim and the foot, where as the 15th century decoration ends above the foot and on the shoulder.
The carving of the details on the dragons is particularly fine on the current vase, and the control of the underglaze copper red has produced a richness that enhances the fine brushwork of the turbulent waves.
This very successful design also appears in a slightly different form, including some underglaze blue elements, on a small number of vases which also bear apocryphal Xuande marks. One of these is in the National Palace Museum and was exhibited in the Special Exhibition of Dragon Motif Porcelain, Taiwan, 1983, no. 84, while another in the Baur Collection, is illustrated by J. Ayers in The Baur Collection Geneva - Chinese Ceramics, volume IV, Geneva, 1974, no. A526. A version of the design also appears in underglaze blue, as on the Yongzheng meiping in the Palace Museum Beijing, illustrated in Kangxi Yongzheng Qianlong, op. cit., p. 178, no. 7.
These Yongzheng vases are characteristic of the Qing court's fascination with, and admiration of, 15th century porcelains. A Yongle (1403-1424) meiping with dragons in similar positions reserved against underglaze copper red waves is illustrated by Geng Baochang in Ming Qing Ciqi Jianding, Beijing, 1993, p. 19, pl. 26C. The Yongzheng vase follows the style of the 15th century meiping quite closely except that on the 18th century piece the decoration reaches the mouth rim and the foot, where as the 15th century decoration ends above the foot and on the shoulder.
The carving of the details on the dragons is particularly fine on the current vase, and the control of the underglaze copper red has produced a richness that enhances the fine brushwork of the turbulent waves.