KANGXI PERIOD (1662-1722)

Clair-de-lune or 'tian lan' (sky blue) glazed wares were highly prized in the Kangxi period and the color was strictly reserved for imperial porcelain. The glaze was first developed in the Xuande (1426-1435) period, as evidenced by the excavated Xuande-marked stem bowl illustrated by S. Liang in Yuan’s and Ming’s Imperial Porcelains Unearthed from Jingdezhen, Beijing, 1999, p. 256, no. 257. The glaze did not gain prominence until the Kangxi period when it was refined and used mostly for scholar’s objects, in many of the same shapes as peachbloom-glazed wares. In reference to three small clair-de-lune glazed wares in The Metropolitan Museum of Art, Sue Valenstein notes, "They illustrate why clair de lune is among the most treasured of the Qing-dynasty glazes." (S. Valenstein, A Handbook of Chinese Ceramics, New York, 1975, p. 241) The ribbed form most likely derives from Longquan celadon ribbed jars from the 14th century.

An almost identical clair-de-lune jar is in the Palace Museum, Beijing, illustrated in Gutaoci ziliao xuancui (Selected Information Regarding the Beijing Palace Museum Ceramics), vol. 2, Beijing, 2005, p. 127, no. 105. Another similar example is illustrated in Studies of the Collections of the National Museum of China- Ceramics- Qing Dynasty, Shanghai, 2007, p. 48, no. 30.

Another similar ‘tian lan’ glazed ‘hundred ribs’ jar from the Zande Lou Collection is illustrated in Qing Imperial Monochromes: The Zande Lou Collection, Hong Kong, 2005, p. 44-45, no. 5, where the author cites a similar jar in the collection of the Shanghai Museum and also notes that the shape could possibly have been made to imitate a basket. See, also, Sotheby's Hong Kong, 25 November 1980, lot 73, for a 'hundred rib' jar from the Edward Chow Collection.