CHINE, DYNASTIE QING, XIXE SIÈCLE

The present vessel is a finely conceived interpretation of the archaic bronze he, a ritual pouring vessel associated with the Shang and Zhou dynasties. Originally used for mixing and serving wine during ceremonial rites, the form enjoyed renewed popularity from the Song dynasty onward, when antiquarian taste inspired the reinterpretation of ancient bronzes in porcelain and other media. Rather than directly copying early prototypes, Qing artisans sought to capture the aesthetic spirit and ritual character of archaic forms through refined reinterpretation.
Comparable examples of this form in porcelain are preserved in major collections, including a Qianlong marked example in the National Palace Museum, Taipei, illustrated in the Special Exhibition of K’ang-hsi, Yung-cheng and Ch’ien-lung Wares, 1986, no. 71; another from the Tianjin Art Museum exhibited in Imperial China: The Living Past, Art Gallery of New South Wales, Sydney, 1992, no. 94; and a related example from the Norbulingka Palace, Lhasa, illustrated in Gems of China’s Cultural Relics, Beijing, 1992, no. 46. A Daoguang marked example of the same design from the Simon Kwan Collection was included in the exhibition Imperial Porcelain of Late Qing, Chinese University of Hong Kong, 1983, no. 5. See a related blue and white he bearing a Daoguang mark and dated to the 19th century, sold at Christie’s New York, 17 September 2010, lot 1426.