YONGZHENG INCISED FOUR CHARACTER SEAL MARK AND OF THE PERIOD (1723-1735)

The extraordinary effect of this glaze is achieved by applying an opaque stippled turquoise glaze coloured with copper and made opaque by mixing the arsenic as an opacifier. Rose Kerr noted in Chinese Ceramics, Porcelain of the Qing dynasty, London, 1986, p. 88, that while visual examination reveals there to be two distinctive types of robin’s-egg glaze, one streaked with copper-red and the other stippled with blotches of turquoise and dark blue, further analysis is required to clarify the chemistry of these glazes. The Robin’s-egg glaze was a monochrome glaze first invented in the Yongzheng reign. The peacock-feather glaze appears to be closely related to the more common robin’s-egg glaze, but the former is much rarer, possibly due to the difficulty in successfully achieving its desired effect.

The form of this vase is based on the bronze wenhu (flask warmer) from the Han Dynasty, 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). An almost identical vase, also incised with a Yongzheng four-character mark, is in the National Palace Museum, illustrated in Catalogue of a Special Exhibition of Qing Monochromes, Taipei, 1981, pl. 41 (fig. 2). The same collection has another larger vase of similar form but of different proportions (47.1 cm.), incised with a Qianlong reign mark (acquisition no. zhong-ci-0003849). Compare also to a peacock-feather glazed censer, incised with a Yongzheng six-character seal mark, sold at Christie’s Hong Kong, May 31 2010, lot 1883.