.jpg?w=1)
拍品专文
This exquisite pair of covered jars may be seen as the ultimate expression of the refined elegance of porcelains made for the Yongzheng Emperor. Their simple profiles are perfectly complemented by the shape of their covers and their ethereal glazes. The ceramic artist has refrained from adding any surface decoration, which might have detracted from the beauty of form or glaze. The fine pale celadons of the Qing dynasty such as these vessels, have long been greatly prized by both Asian and Western connoisseurs.
The glaze on these jars is particularly lovely, being of clear, soft, even, pale celadon. Chinese celadon glazes were appreciated by connoisseurs as early as the Tang dynasty, when the writer Lu Yu (AD 733-804), declared in his Cha jing (Tea Classic) that Yue ware celadon bowls were the best vessels from which to drink fine tea. This admiration for celadon glazes on stoneware vessels continued into the Song dynasty, when they dominated court taste. Celadon-type glazes were applied to porcelain vessels produced at Jingdezhen in the early Ming period, but it was the Qing dynasty potters of the Kangxi reign who perfected a particularly delicate version of the glaze applied to a very white (low iron) porcelain body. The delicate celadon glaze was colored using only about half the amount of iron found in typical Song dynasty Longquan celadons, and was further modified in the Yongzheng period to produce the even more finely textured and slightly bluer pale celadon glaze seen on the current vessels. These celadons and the others created with minute variations in tone and texture have been much admired by Chinese connoisseurs and have been given names such as douqing (bean green) and dongqing (eastern green) in the Kangxi reign, dongqing (winter green) and fenqing (soft green) in the Yongzheng reign. The current covered jars have particularly beautiful fenqing glazes.
A Yongzheng blue and white jar and cover of the same size and shape as the current pair of celadon glazed vessels in the Palace Museum, Beijing is illustrated in The Complete Collection of Treasures of the Palace Museum - 36 - Blue and white Porcelain with Underglaze Red (II), Hong Kong, 2000, p. 118, no. 104. The blue and white jar was formerly in the Qing court collection and is decorated with sprays of auspicious fruit.
A pair of similar jars and covers was included in the Exhibition of Chinese Art, C. T. Loo & Co., New York, 1941, no. 788. Two similar pairs of jars and covers have been sold; one from the J. T. Tai Foundation, Sotheby's, New York, 3 June 1985, lot 34, the other from the British Rail Pension Fund Collection, Sotheby's, Hong Kong, 16 May 1989, lot 60. And a single jar without cover was sold Sotheby's, Hong Kong, 3-4 May 1994, lot 109.
The glaze on these jars is particularly lovely, being of clear, soft, even, pale celadon. Chinese celadon glazes were appreciated by connoisseurs as early as the Tang dynasty, when the writer Lu Yu (AD 733-804), declared in his Cha jing (Tea Classic) that Yue ware celadon bowls were the best vessels from which to drink fine tea. This admiration for celadon glazes on stoneware vessels continued into the Song dynasty, when they dominated court taste. Celadon-type glazes were applied to porcelain vessels produced at Jingdezhen in the early Ming period, but it was the Qing dynasty potters of the Kangxi reign who perfected a particularly delicate version of the glaze applied to a very white (low iron) porcelain body. The delicate celadon glaze was colored using only about half the amount of iron found in typical Song dynasty Longquan celadons, and was further modified in the Yongzheng period to produce the even more finely textured and slightly bluer pale celadon glaze seen on the current vessels. These celadons and the others created with minute variations in tone and texture have been much admired by Chinese connoisseurs and have been given names such as douqing (bean green) and dongqing (eastern green) in the Kangxi reign, dongqing (winter green) and fenqing (soft green) in the Yongzheng reign. The current covered jars have particularly beautiful fenqing glazes.
A Yongzheng blue and white jar and cover of the same size and shape as the current pair of celadon glazed vessels in the Palace Museum, Beijing is illustrated in The Complete Collection of Treasures of the Palace Museum - 36 - Blue and white Porcelain with Underglaze Red (II), Hong Kong, 2000, p. 118, no. 104. The blue and white jar was formerly in the Qing court collection and is decorated with sprays of auspicious fruit.
A pair of similar jars and covers was included in the Exhibition of Chinese Art, C. T. Loo & Co., New York, 1941, no. 788. Two similar pairs of jars and covers have been sold; one from the J. T. Tai Foundation, Sotheby's, New York, 3 June 1985, lot 34, the other from the British Rail Pension Fund Collection, Sotheby's, Hong Kong, 16 May 1989, lot 60. And a single jar without cover was sold Sotheby's, Hong Kong, 3-4 May 1994, lot 109.