A PEACHBLOOM-GLAZED WATER POT, TAIBAI ZUN
A PEACHBLOOM-GLAZED WATER POT, TAIBAI ZUN
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A PEACHBLOOM-GLAZED WATER POT, TAIBAI ZUN

KANGXI SIX-CHARACTER MARK IN UNDERGLAZE BLUE AND OF THE PERIOD (1662-1722)

Details
A PEACHBLOOM-GLAZED WATER POT, TAIBAI ZUN
KANGXI SIX-CHARACTER MARK IN UNDERGLAZE BLUE AND OF THE PERIOD (1662-1722)
The 'beehive'-shaped vessel is well potted with rounded sides rising to a short flaring rim, incised with three archaistic dragon roundels on the body. The glaze is of rich raspberry tones with crimson-red speckles. The interior and countersunk base are covered in a transparent glaze.
4 7/8 in. (12.5 cm.) wide, box
Provenance
Sold at Sotheby's Hong Kong, 5 November 1996, lot 840
Sold at Sotheby's Hong Kong, 2 May 2005, lot 671

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Ruben Lien
Ruben Lien

Lot Essay

Waterpots of this form are known as Taibai zun, after the Tang dynasty poet Li Bo who is often depicted leaning against a large wine jar of similar form. They are also known as jizhao zun because their shape resembles that of a chicken coop. Such waterpots belong to the group of eight peachbloom wares for the scholar's desk, of which a complete set is in the Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, illustrated by S. Valenstein, A Handbook of Chinese Ceramics, New York, 1989, p. 237. Another complete set of eight from the Jingguantang Collection, was sold at Christie's Hong Kong, 3 November 1996, lot 557.

Similar waterpots can be found in many important museum collections, for example, in the Palace Museum, Beijing, published in Kangxi Yongzheng Qianlong, Hong Kong, 1989, p. 142, pl. 125; in the Percival David Foundation, London, included in the Illustrated Catalogue of Ming and Qing Monochrome Wares, London, 1989, no. 580; and another included in the Hong Kong Museum of Art exhibition Ming and Ch'ing Porcelain from the Collection of the T. Y. Chao Family Foundation, 1976, illustrated in the Catalogue, no. 52.

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