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Lot Essay
Although copper oxide was first used to produce red on high-fired ceramics in the Tang dynasty, its use was limited to a few stoneware pieces with a monochrome copper red-glaze and a larger number of vessels with designs in copper red. This limited use of copper-red decoration continued into the Song dynasty when the first examples of copper-red glazed porcelain appeared. Due to the difficulty of working with copper oxide its use continued to be limited until the Yuan dynasty when there was a concerted effort to master the material. It was during this period that the potters of Jingdezhen experimented with several different techniques in the application of copper-red splashes, reserved decoration and painted decoration. On vessels with reserved decoration, the design was incised into the body of the vessel and the copper red applied as a band that avoided the design. Two of the more successful examples of this type of decoration are the two Yuan-dynasty yuhuchunping illustrated in The Complete Collection of Treasures of the Palace Museum - 34 - Blue and White Porcelain with Underglaze Red, Hong Kong, 2000, pp. 206-7, pls. 191 and 192. Too often, the copper red, due to its fluidity, bled into the design, and eventually the method of painted decoration is the one that came to predominate during the early Ming dynasty.
It was during the Hongwu period (1368-1398) of the early Ming dynasty, that the potters at Jingdezhen were able to more successfully control the fluidity of the copper-red, resulting in more reliable results in its application and firing. It was also during this period that the decoration in copper red mirrored that executed in cobalt, or underglaze blue, as did the shapes of the vessels. The shape of the yuhuchunping with its pear-shaped body that tapers to the narrow neck that rises to a flared mouth informed the manner of decoration - a wide band of decoration on the body between narrow decorative bands below and on the neck above. On both the underglaze blue and copper-red-decorated vases of this shape, the decoration most often consists of a wide band of flower scroll above a band of petal lappets, and narrow bands of trefoils (cloud collar), classic scroll and key fret below upright plantain leaves on the neck.
Of yuhuchunping decorated with floral scroll, the flowers represented are usually chrysanthemum, peony, or lotus and the present vase is decorated with all three. A copper-red-decorated vase, also with chrysanthemum, but with a cloud collar formed by larger trefoils alternating with smaller trefoils, was sold at Christie’s New York, 22 March 2019, lot 1624. Four vases of this shape similarly decorated in copper red, but with peony scroll, are illustrated in Mayuyama, Mayuyama Seventy Years, vol. 1, Tokyo, 1976, p. 241, pls. 721-24.
It was during the Hongwu period (1368-1398) of the early Ming dynasty, that the potters at Jingdezhen were able to more successfully control the fluidity of the copper-red, resulting in more reliable results in its application and firing. It was also during this period that the decoration in copper red mirrored that executed in cobalt, or underglaze blue, as did the shapes of the vessels. The shape of the yuhuchunping with its pear-shaped body that tapers to the narrow neck that rises to a flared mouth informed the manner of decoration - a wide band of decoration on the body between narrow decorative bands below and on the neck above. On both the underglaze blue and copper-red-decorated vases of this shape, the decoration most often consists of a wide band of flower scroll above a band of petal lappets, and narrow bands of trefoils (cloud collar), classic scroll and key fret below upright plantain leaves on the neck.
Of yuhuchunping decorated with floral scroll, the flowers represented are usually chrysanthemum, peony, or lotus and the present vase is decorated with all three. A copper-red-decorated vase, also with chrysanthemum, but with a cloud collar formed by larger trefoils alternating with smaller trefoils, was sold at Christie’s New York, 22 March 2019, lot 1624. Four vases of this shape similarly decorated in copper red, but with peony scroll, are illustrated in Mayuyama, Mayuyama Seventy Years, vol. 1, Tokyo, 1976, p. 241, pls. 721-24.