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Lot Essay
The current vase, with its highly unusual form, is based on guan tiered vases from the Song and Yuan dynasties, such as a three-tiered celadon guan square vase in the National Palace Museum Collection, dating to the Southern Song to Yuan dynasty, illustrated in Precious as the Morning Star: 12th-14th Century Celadons in the Qing Court Collection, Taipei, 2016, p. 166-167, no. 11-48. Two other three-tiered celadon guan vases of similar form in the same collection are illustrated in Catalogue of the Special Exhibition of Sung Dynasty Kuan Ware, Taipei, 1989, P. 49, no. 3-4.
It is also likely that the current vase, applied with an even, lustrous clear glaze revealing the fine white body underneath, was intended to imitate the ivory-white Ding wares from the Song dynasty. Multiple entries from the Comprehensive Records of Zaobanchu Workshops documented that the Yongzheng Emperor had repeatedly ordered special stands to be made for selected Ding pieces in the Imperial collection, or have draftsmen make drawings of them. Additionally, the Records indicated that in the seventh year of his reign, a white Ding vase was sent to the Imperial kilns at Jingdezhen and the Emperor requested vases covered in guan-type and other glazes to be produced using it as a model. This reflected the Yongzheng Emperor’s deep interest in Ding white wares. The current vase, with its glaze resembling that of Ding wares and form resembling that of guan wares, superbly exemplifies the Emperor’s archaistic taste and pursuit.
An identical white-glazed anhua-decorated ‘kui dragon’ vase is in the National Palace Museum (acquisition no. zhong-ci 000759) (fig. 1). There is also another type of Yongzheng white-glazed vase of the same form and design, but with decorative motifs moulded in relief, such as the example fitted with a cover, in the Beijing Palace Museum Collection, illustrated in Qingdai yuyao ciqi, juan 1, xia, Beijing, 2005, pl. 87, and another example without a cover, in the National Place Museum (acquisition no. zhong-ci 000753).
It is also likely that the current vase, applied with an even, lustrous clear glaze revealing the fine white body underneath, was intended to imitate the ivory-white Ding wares from the Song dynasty. Multiple entries from the Comprehensive Records of Zaobanchu Workshops documented that the Yongzheng Emperor had repeatedly ordered special stands to be made for selected Ding pieces in the Imperial collection, or have draftsmen make drawings of them. Additionally, the Records indicated that in the seventh year of his reign, a white Ding vase was sent to the Imperial kilns at Jingdezhen and the Emperor requested vases covered in guan-type and other glazes to be produced using it as a model. This reflected the Yongzheng Emperor’s deep interest in Ding white wares. The current vase, with its glaze resembling that of Ding wares and form resembling that of guan wares, superbly exemplifies the Emperor’s archaistic taste and pursuit.
An identical white-glazed anhua-decorated ‘kui dragon’ vase is in the National Palace Museum (acquisition no. zhong-ci 000759) (fig. 1). There is also another type of Yongzheng white-glazed vase of the same form and design, but with decorative motifs moulded in relief, such as the example fitted with a cover, in the Beijing Palace Museum Collection, illustrated in Qingdai yuyao ciqi, juan 1, xia, Beijing, 2005, pl. 87, and another example without a cover, in the National Place Museum (acquisition no. zhong-ci 000753).