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Lot Essay
The form of the present vase is based on the bronze ritual wine vessels known as gu from the Shang and Zhou periods, such as the example illustrated in the woodblock printed catalogue Xiqing Gujian, ‘Inspection of Antiques’, which was published under the auspices of the Qianlong Emperor (fig. 1). The form enjoyed further popularity as the inspiration for Song-dynasty imperial wares, including ceramics covered with guan and ge glazes. The lustrous, uncrackled greyish-blue glaze on the current vase harks back to the revered Ru wares from the Northern Song dynasty. The present vase reflects this rich history, in its conscious imitation of earlier forms and glazes.
It appears that the Qianlong Emperor enjoyed vases made in this classical gu shape. According to the Comprehensive Records of Zaobanchu Workshops, in the second year of the Qianlong reign, the Emperor ordered the Superintendent of the Imperial kilns at Jingdezhen, Tang Ying, to fire tianbai vases based on the shape of the classical gu vessels, with drawings prepared by draftsmen in the Imperial Household Workshops. Later in the third year of the Qianlong reign, a Ru gu-shaped vase was sent over to Jingdezhen for the potters there to replicate. It is very likely that the current vase is one of these examples specifically commissioned by the Qianlong Emperor.
Vases of similar shape and design were also fired in the Kangxi reign. Compare, for example, to a sky-blue glazed and a white-glazed gu-shaped vases, both with Kangxi reign marks and similarly decorated above and below the bulging mid-section with raised bands, but with additional friezes of bosses, in the Palace Museum, illustrated in Monochrome Porcelain, The Complete Collection of Treasures of the Palace Museum, Hong Kong, 1999, pls. 90 and 112.
It appears that the Qianlong Emperor enjoyed vases made in this classical gu shape. According to the Comprehensive Records of Zaobanchu Workshops, in the second year of the Qianlong reign, the Emperor ordered the Superintendent of the Imperial kilns at Jingdezhen, Tang Ying, to fire tianbai vases based on the shape of the classical gu vessels, with drawings prepared by draftsmen in the Imperial Household Workshops. Later in the third year of the Qianlong reign, a Ru gu-shaped vase was sent over to Jingdezhen for the potters there to replicate. It is very likely that the current vase is one of these examples specifically commissioned by the Qianlong Emperor.
Vases of similar shape and design were also fired in the Kangxi reign. Compare, for example, to a sky-blue glazed and a white-glazed gu-shaped vases, both with Kangxi reign marks and similarly decorated above and below the bulging mid-section with raised bands, but with additional friezes of bosses, in the Palace Museum, illustrated in Monochrome Porcelain, The Complete Collection of Treasures of the Palace Museum, Hong Kong, 1999, pls. 90 and 112.