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

This vessel form is known as Taibai zun, named after the Tang dynasty poet Li Bai (also known as Li Taibai, 701–762), whose wine jar it resembles. It belongs to the 'Eight Great Numbers' (Badama), a group of eight classical vessel shapes specifically devised for the emperor's writing table, for which the peachbloom glaze was exclusively reserved. Peachbloom glaze is produced at the Kangxi imperial kilns, renowned for its exceptional technical difficulty and extremely low firing success rate. Surviving examples are exceedingly rare.

Similar peachbloom-glazed water pots are found in various museums worldwide, including the Percival David Foundation of Chinese Art, illustrated in Earth, Fire and Water: Chinese Ceramic Technology, London, 1996, p. 34, no. 24 and a full set of the eight vessels at the Metropolitan Museum of Art, illustrated by S.G. Valenstein, A Handbook of Chinese Ceramics, New York, 1989, p. 237. Also compare to a Taibai zun of the same size, sold at Christie’s Hong Kong, 30 November 2023, lot 2811.