A RARE FLAMBE-GLAZED BALUSTER VASE

Details

A RARE FLAMBE-GLAZED BALUSTER VASE
IMPRESSED YONGZHENG SEAL MARK AND OF THE PERIOD

The vase is of elegant and complex shape with an ovoid body rising from a broad domed foot into a long cylindrical cup-shaped mouth, with a horizontal rib above the foot and two ribs around the neck. The lustrous and predominantly purple glaze has pale blue splashes and streaks, particularly below the mouth and to the interior, the rim has fired to brown tones, the base is covered in a thin green-brown glaze 11 in. (28 cm.) high, box

Provenance

W. W. Winkworth, sold Sotheby's London, 12 December 1972, lot 171.
The Works of Art Collection of the British Rail Pension Fund, sold Sotheby's Hong Kong, 16 May 1989, lot 64.

Exhibited

Christie's London, An Exhibition of Important Chinese Ceramics from the Robert Chang Collection, 2-14 June 1993, Catalogue, no. 39.

Lot Essay

This distinctive glaze seeks to re-create the famous classical Jun wares of the Song period. The splashes and streaks characteristic of this glaze are described as yao bian, or 'transmutation glaze', and has been the subject of much research. See R. Kerr, Chinese Ceramics: Porcelain of the Qing Dynasty 1644-1911, p. 75, and N. Wood, The Evolution of the Chinese Copper Red, Chinese Copper Red Wares, University of London, pp. 29-30 for discussion on this topic.

Compare the impressed four-character mark with that on a flambe-glazed amphora in the Nanjing Museum, illustrated in Imperial Kiln Porcelain of Qing Dynasty: Gems of Collections in Nanjing Museum, Shanghai, 1997, no. 16. For a discussion on the inspiration of the shape of this rare vase, see the footnote for lot 513 in this catalogue.

(US$45,000-60,000)

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