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Lot Essay
The glaze on this rare vase is based on one of the 'Five famous wares of the Song dynasty' - Ge ware. The other four famous wares are Ru, Guan, Ding and Jun. All five of these Song dynasty wares were greatly admired by the emperors of the high Qing, and during the Yongzheng reign much research and development was undertaken in order to reproduce these glazes on the porcelains made at the imperial kilns at Jingdezhen. Like his father, the Qianlong emperor was fascinated by antiques and encouraged the craftsmen working for the court to reproduce them. In some instances, he even had pieces inscribed Qianlong fang gu (literally, Qianlong copying the ancient).
The Ge-type glaze on the current vessel is especially successful, reproducing the close crackle and slight translucency of the glaze to very good effect, even on the base of the vase. The shape and size of the current vase are both very rare. The shape is of particular interest since there are at least two possible sources from among ancient forms. It is possible that the shape is a simplified version of an ancient bronze bell shape, which had an elongated tubular handle protruding from the body. The other possibility is that the shape derives from the paper-mallet form, which has its origins in wood, but can be seen adapted as a ceramic vase among Song dynasty Ding wares, such as the example in the Percival David Foundation illustrated by S. Pierson and S. F. M. McCausland, Song Ceramics: Objects of Admiration, Percival David Foundation, London, 2003, pp. 20-1, no. 1. It also appears among Southern Song Guan wares, like the vase in the Freer Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C., illustrated in Oriental Ceramics, The World's Great Collections, vol. 9, Tokyo, 1981, pl. 1.
During the Qianlong reign, the form not only appears among Ge-type porcelains, like the current example, but also among falangcai overglaze enameled wares, such as the vase with landscape decoration from the Grandidier Collection in the Musée Guimet, Paris, illustrated in Oriental Ceramics, The World's Great Collections, vol. 7, Tokyo, 1981, pl. 192. The shape is also seen occasionally in the late 17th-early 18th century with a crackled green glaze, as on the vase from the Hirota Collection in the Tokyo National Museum illustrated in Oriental Ceramics, The World's Great Collections, vol. 1, Tokyo, 1982, pl. 159.
This shape is rare in the Yongzheng reign, but does occasionally appear among vessels with archaistic glazes, as in the case of a large vase with Ru-type glaze formerly in the Imperial Collection and now in the collection of the Percival David Foundation, illustrated by S. Yorke Hardy in Illustrated Catalogue of Tung, Ju, Kuan, Chun, Kuang-tung & Glazed I-Hsing Wares, Percival David Foundation, London, 1953, pl. VII, no. 66. This Yongzheng example shares both its larger size and its somewhat wider neck with the current Qianlong vase. Another Qianlong vase of similar shape and bearing a Ge-type glaze is illustrated in Shimmering Colours - Monochromes of the Yuan to Qing Periods - The Zhuyuetang Collection, Art Museum, The Chinese University of Hong Kong, 2005, pp. 170-1, no. 99. Interestingly, the same publication includes another Qianlong vase of this form, illustrated, p. 168, no. 97, but with a Ru-type glaze similar to the David Foundation Yongzheng vessel mentioned above.
The Ge-type glaze on the current vessel is especially successful, reproducing the close crackle and slight translucency of the glaze to very good effect, even on the base of the vase. The shape and size of the current vase are both very rare. The shape is of particular interest since there are at least two possible sources from among ancient forms. It is possible that the shape is a simplified version of an ancient bronze bell shape, which had an elongated tubular handle protruding from the body. The other possibility is that the shape derives from the paper-mallet form, which has its origins in wood, but can be seen adapted as a ceramic vase among Song dynasty Ding wares, such as the example in the Percival David Foundation illustrated by S. Pierson and S. F. M. McCausland, Song Ceramics: Objects of Admiration, Percival David Foundation, London, 2003, pp. 20-1, no. 1. It also appears among Southern Song Guan wares, like the vase in the Freer Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C., illustrated in Oriental Ceramics, The World's Great Collections, vol. 9, Tokyo, 1981, pl. 1.
During the Qianlong reign, the form not only appears among Ge-type porcelains, like the current example, but also among falangcai overglaze enameled wares, such as the vase with landscape decoration from the Grandidier Collection in the Musée Guimet, Paris, illustrated in Oriental Ceramics, The World's Great Collections, vol. 7, Tokyo, 1981, pl. 192. The shape is also seen occasionally in the late 17th-early 18th century with a crackled green glaze, as on the vase from the Hirota Collection in the Tokyo National Museum illustrated in Oriental Ceramics, The World's Great Collections, vol. 1, Tokyo, 1982, pl. 159.
This shape is rare in the Yongzheng reign, but does occasionally appear among vessels with archaistic glazes, as in the case of a large vase with Ru-type glaze formerly in the Imperial Collection and now in the collection of the Percival David Foundation, illustrated by S. Yorke Hardy in Illustrated Catalogue of Tung, Ju, Kuan, Chun, Kuang-tung & Glazed I-Hsing Wares, Percival David Foundation, London, 1953, pl. VII, no. 66. This Yongzheng example shares both its larger size and its somewhat wider neck with the current Qianlong vase. Another Qianlong vase of similar shape and bearing a Ge-type glaze is illustrated in Shimmering Colours - Monochromes of the Yuan to Qing Periods - The Zhuyuetang Collection, Art Museum, The Chinese University of Hong Kong, 2005, pp. 170-1, no. 99. Interestingly, the same publication includes another Qianlong vase of this form, illustrated, p. 168, no. 97, but with a Ru-type glaze similar to the David Foundation Yongzheng vessel mentioned above.