YONGZHENG SIX-CHARACTER MARK IN UNDERGLAZE BLUE WITHIN A DOUBLE CIRCLE AND OF THE PERIOD (1723-1735)

Vases of this unusual shape, ganlanping, or olive-shaped, are rare, and appear to be especially rare in monochrome glazes. The form was admired in all three of the great imperial reigns of the Qing dynasty - Kangxi, Yongzheng and Qianlong. During the Kangxi period the shape was more attenuated, with a more slender neck and less flared mouth, unlike the shape of the present vase. Two vases which exemplify the Kangxi shape, each incised with decoration under a pale blue glaze, are illustrated by J. Ayers, The Baur Collection, vol. 3, Geneva, 1972, no. A 326, which has a straight neck and no flare to the foot, and no. A 328, which has a tall slender neck rising to a slightly everted mouth rim. The somewhat more robust shape seen in the Yongzheng and Qianlong periods has a shorter neck and more widely flared mouth, as well as a slight flare at the foot. This is the elegant shape seen on the current vase and others bearing Yongzheng marks that have been published, all of which are variously decorated. A blue and white example in the Palace Collection, Beijing, illustrated in Qingdai Yuyao ciqi, vol. 1, Beijing 2005, pp. 80-1, no. 29, is the most similar in shape to the present vase, as well as in size (39.9 cm.). Another in the Qing Court Collection, Beijing, decorated in green on a yellow ground, illustrated by Feng and Geng (eds.), Selected Porcelain of the Flourishing Qing Dynasty at the Palace Museum, Hong Kong, 1994, p. 197, no. 43, is also very similar in shape. Two monochrome-glazed examples, also in the collection of the Palace Museum, are also illustrated in Qingdai Yuyao ciqi, vol. 1, a copper-red-glazed vase, pp. 38-9, no. 9, and one covered with an imitation Guan glaze, pp. 342-3, no. 157. Both of these are somewhat smaller, 30.6 and 29.5 cm., and the neck is shorter. A monochrome white vase of comparable size (43 cm.) is illustrated by R. Krahl, Chinese Ceramics from the Meiyintang Collection, vol. 4 (II), London, 2010, pp. 316-7, no. 1779. See, also, the virtually identical blue-glazed vase, also with Yongzheng mark, from the Gordon Collection, sold at Christies New York, 24 March 2011, lot 1157.