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

An Extremely Rare Kangxi 'Dragon' Vase

Rosemary Scott, Senior International Academic Consultant, Asian Art


This Kangxi vase is exceptionally rare, indeed only three vases of this form and decoration in international museum collections have been published, and no others in private collections appear to be known. A vase of the same shape and decoration, bequeathed to the Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, by Mary Clark Thompson in 1923, is illustrated by Suzanne G. Valenstein in A Handbook of Chinese Ceramics, New York, 1989, p. 22, fig. 211. (Fig. 1) A further vase of the same shape and decoration, formerly in the collection of J. P. Morgan, is in the Taft Museum of Art, Cincinnati (accession number: 1931.135), and is illustrated in The Taft Museum, Chinese Ceramics and Works of Art, New York, 1995, p. 595. (Fig. 2) A further similar Kangxi vase is in the Walters Art Museum, Baltimore, and is illustrated by S. W. Bushell in Oriental Ceramic Art Illustrated by Examples from the Collection of W. T. Walters, 1896 (1981 edition), fig. 194. (Fig. 3)

The elegant form of the current vase is known in Chinese as sanxianping ‘three string vase’ – a reference to the three fine raised lines which encircle the lower part of the neck. Another name sometimes applied to this form is laifuping ‘radish vase’, which is a reference to the vessel’s elongated tapering shape. This form is relatively rare amongst Kangxi porcelains, and is usually associated with the prestigious forms known as the ba da ma ‘Eight Great Numbers’, which were made with peach-bloom glaze for the scholar’s table in the Kangxi reign. As the British scholar John Ayers has discussed in ‘The Peachbloom Wares of the Kangxi Period (1662-1722)’, Transactions of the Oriental Ceramic Society, 1999-2000, vol. 64, pp. 31-50, there are in fact a total number of nine forms in this peach-bloom group, rather than eight. This may be significant, since, although the number eight was traditionally regarded as lucky, the number nine is the imperial number, and it has been suggested by some scholars that these peach-bloom vessels were made especially to be given as gifts from the Kangxi Emperor to favoured members of the court. The style of the calligraphy used in the reign marks on peach-bloom vessels has led some scholars to suggest that the vessels should date to relatively early in the Kangxi reign, and Professor Peter K. Lam has further suggested that both the form, and the dragon design on pieces such as the current vessel, were developed around 1678-1688, under the influence of the acclaimed painter and calligrapher Liu Yuan (c. 1638-c. 1685). The Qing shi gao ‘Manuscript of Qing History’, published in the Republican period, notes that Liu Yuan provided several hundred designs for imperial porcelain following the reopening of the imperial kiln complex in the early 1680s. The Zaiyuan zazhi, which was written by Liu Tingji, a contemporary of Liu Yuan, also noted that the latter designed many three-dimensional scholar’s objects for the imperial household.

The close link with the imperial household is clear, however, the sophistication of both glaze and form, as well as the discovery of a vase of similar form and with similar dragon decorated in underglaze copper red as on the current vase, but with the reign mark of the succeeding Yongzheng reign (AD 1723-35) amongst the Chinese porcelains in the Victoria and Albert Museum collections (see Ayers, op. cit., p. 41, fig. 17), and another in the Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, formerly in the Friedsam Collection, with a Yongzheng mark, and similar design (although the waves and clouds are painted rather than carved) – see Oriental Ceramics, The World’s Great Collections, vol. 11, Tokyo, 1982, colour plate 30 - has led some scholars to conclude that the peach-bloom vessels, and by extension the current vase, are more likely to have been produced in the latter years of the Kangxi reign. The same vase form with similar dragon design – albeit in low relief rather than painted – also appears amongst the fine celadon-glazed porcelains of the Kangxi reign. Two such celadon vases preserved in the collection of the Palace Museum, Beijing, are illustrated by Geng Baochang (ed.), in Gugong Bowuyuan cang Qingdai yuyao ciqi (Qing Porcelains from the Imperial Kilns Preserved in the Palace Museum), Beijing, 2005, vol. 1, pls. 112 and 113, while a similar vase was sold by Christie’s Hong Kong on 29 May 2009, lot 1819.

Interestingly, very similar three-clawed dragons, painted in underglaze copper red against a white background, appear on another vase form in the Kangxi reign. This vase shape has a long columnar neck and quite sharply angled shoulders, while the red dragon is depicted on the upper part of the shoulders and the lower part of the neck. Two of these long-necked vases were in the collection of Richard Bennett (b. 1849) of Thornby Hall in Northampton before entering the collection of J. Insley Blair (1870-1939). They were illustrated in The J. Insley Blair Collection of Chinese Porcelain, Tuxedo Park, New York, 1925, pl. 1, middle row, nos. 2 and 4. One was sold by Christie’s Hong Kong on 28 November 2012, lot 2117.

The link between the current vase and these long-necked vases is significant, since the latter have a further link with Kangxi peach-bloom vessels. The proportions and profile of these long-necked vases are unusual in the Kangxi reign, but amongst the ba da ma peach-bloom vessels is a vase of this shape and approximately the same size. While there is no underglaze painting on the peach-bloom vessel, this is the only da ba ma peach-bloom form to have a modelled dragon applied to its exterior. In this case the modelled dragon is three-clawed and is of similar type to the dragons painted in underglaze red on both the long-necked and ‘three-string’ vases. The dragon on the peach-bloom vases is glazed green. One of these ‘dragon’ peach-bloom vases is in the collection of the Metropolitan Museum, New York. It had formerly been in the collection of Thomas Benedict Clarke, who sold it to Benjamin Altman in 1903. Altman in turn bequeathed the vase to the Metropolitan Museum of Art at his death in 1913. The vase is illustrated by Suzanne G. Valenstein, op. cit., p. 237, fig. 232; and by Denise Patry Leidy in How to Read Chinese Ceramics, New York, 2015, p. 121, fig. 35.1.

The link between the current vase, its long-necked copper red-decorated companion, and Kangxi peach-bloom-glazed porcelains suggests that they were of particular importance. A considerable amount of research has been undertaken into Kangxi peach-bloom vessels and, as mentioned above, some scholars have suggested that they may have been chosen as gifts bestowed by the emperor on selected members of the court as special tokens imperial favour. Both the peach-bloom glaze and underglaze copper red decoration provided significant challenges to the craftsmen at the imperial kilns, and the similarity in shape and related decoration may suggest that vases, like the current vessel, enjoyed analogous status at court.

It is noteworthy that the current rare vase and the three similar vessels in museum collections, as well as the rare long-necked copper red-decorated vases in the Insley Blair collection are decorated with a type of three-clawed dragon that is very different from the dragons which decorate the majority of Kangxi porcelains. The three-clawed copper red dragons are distinctively archaistic in appearance, and accord well with the Kangxi emperor’s acknowledged admiration for antiques. The emperor was a great collector of antiques and the items made for his court often reflected his interest. This is particularly true in the case of imperial ceramics where inspiration from the latter part of the Bronze Age was particularly prevalent. The current vase may, therefore, be closely linked to the Kangxi emperor’s personal tastes.