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

Water pots of this form are known as Taibai zun, after the Tang dynasty poet Li Bai who was also named Li Taibai (701-762). In later imageries Li Bai, a renowned drinker of wine, is often depicted leaning against a large wine jar of this shape. Peachbloom-glazed vessels were highly treasured by the Kangxi Emperor, and were primarily fired as small-sized scholar's objects for the Emperor's table. See a set of eight of peachbloom-glazed vessels of varying forms in the Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, illustrated by S.G. Valenstein, A Handbook of Chinese Ceramics, New York, 1989, p. 237, pl. 236.

Similar peachbloom-glazed waterpots are found in various museums and collections worldwide, including one in the Beijing Palace Museum Collection, see Gugong bowuyuan cang qingdai yuyao ciqi, volume 1, part 1, Beijing, 2015, no.106; another in the Percival David Foundation of Chinese Art, illustrated in Earth, Fire and Water: Chinese Ceramic Technology, London, 1996, no. 24, p. 34.