.jpg?w=1)
Lot Essay
The combination of celadon ground with underglaze cobalt blue and copper-red decoration would have presented a considerable challenge to the Chinese potters and is consequently rare. The technique appears to have been developed in the Kangxi reign (1662-1722), and a Kangxi brushpot decorated using the technique is in the collection of the Palace Museum, Beijing (illustrated in The Complete Collection of Treasures of the Palace Museum - Blue and White Porcelain with Underglaze Red (III), Commerical Press, Hong Kong, 2000, p. 242, no. 220). It may be noted that the underglaze-decorated panels on this brushpot have similar lobed corners to those seen on the current vase. A further Kangxi brushpot decorated in this technique is illustrated in Qingdai ciqi shangjian, Shanghai kexue jishu chubanshe, Shanghai, 1994, p. 64, no. 63.
Related to this group are Kangxi porcelains with underglaze blue decoration, where the blue and associated white areas are reserved against a celadon ground. Typical of this group is a baluster-shaped vase in the Shanghai Museum, with a design of birds, rocks and flowering prunus branches (illustrated by Wang Qingzheng (ed.), in Kangxi Porcelain Ware from the Shanghai Museum Collection, Tai Yip company, Hong Kong, 1998, pp. 94-5, no. 62). The continued interest in this type of design into the Qianlong period can be seen in pieces such as the lantern-shaped vase with underglaze blue and red decoration on a pale dou qing (bean green) ground illustrated in Qingdai ciqi shangjian, op. cit., p. 137, no. 170. The current vase is a further example of this continued interest in aesthetically pleasing but technologically difficult decorative techniques.
Related to this group are Kangxi porcelains with underglaze blue decoration, where the blue and associated white areas are reserved against a celadon ground. Typical of this group is a baluster-shaped vase in the Shanghai Museum, with a design of birds, rocks and flowering prunus branches (illustrated by Wang Qingzheng (ed.), in Kangxi Porcelain Ware from the Shanghai Museum Collection, Tai Yip company, Hong Kong, 1998, pp. 94-5, no. 62). The continued interest in this type of design into the Qianlong period can be seen in pieces such as the lantern-shaped vase with underglaze blue and red decoration on a pale dou qing (bean green) ground illustrated in Qingdai ciqi shangjian, op. cit., p. 137, no. 170. The current vase is a further example of this continued interest in aesthetically pleasing but technologically difficult decorative techniques.