DYNASTIE QING, MARQUE ET EPOQUE QIANLONG (1736-1795)

Archaism as a major theme in the crafts of the Qing dynasty, is represented twice in the presented lot. The Hu shape is derivated from early bronze wares of the Shang and Zhou dynasties, while the glaze is an imitation of the Southern Song Dynasty imperial geyao glaze. Compare the present vase with its Song prototype, a small guan with canted corners in the Freer Gallery of Art, Washington D.C., illustrated in Oriental Ceramics: The World's Great Collections, Kondasha Series, Japan 1981, vol.9, fig.44. Cf. also Qianlong Hu-shaped Ge-type vases, one illustrated in Chinese Ceramics in the Idemitsu Collection, Japan 1987, no.960 ; and another sold in our rooms in Hong Kong, 1 May 1995, Lot 713