Page 225 - Sotheby's October 3 2017 Chinese Art
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Deceptively simple in form and design, this rooms, 23rd March 2011, lot 736; and another
vase forms a marked contrast to the richly sold in these rooms, 26th October 2003, lot 50.
ornamented decorative style that is generally For the Yongzheng prototype, see a guan-type
associated with the Qianlong period, and vase from the Qing court collection and still in
illustrates the technical perfection achieved Beijing, illustrated in The Complete Collection of
by craftsmen working at the imperial kilns in Treasures of the Palace Museum. Monochrome
Jingdezhen. Monochrome vessels required the Porcelain, Hong Kong, 1999, pl. 204. Compare
highest level of skill and precision in every stage also an example sold in these rooms, 9th October
of their production, from the purity of the clay 2007, lot 1534.
and precision of the potting to the evenness
of the glaze and control of the firing. The Qianlong vases of this form are known in a
slightest irregularity would result in the rejection number of different glazes; for example see
and destruction of the piece, thus pushing one of similar size covered in a teadust glaze,
the craftsmen to the limits of their abilities, published in Chinese Ceramics from the Idemitsu
particularly in the production of large vessels Collection, Tokyo, 1987, pl. 965; another from
such as the current vase. The subtle glaze has the Toguri Collection, Tokyo, sold in our London
been created in imitation of Ru ware, one of the rooms, 9th June 2004, lot 3, and again in these
‘five great wares’ of the Song period (960-1279) rooms, 8th April 2010, lot 1822; a smaller vase
along with Ding, ge, guan and Jun. It reflects with a sky-blue glaze, from the Hakutsuru Art
the Qing emperors’ penchant for these early Museum, Kobe, included in Sekai toji zenshu/
wares, which they not only collected but also Ceramic Art of the World, vol. 12, Tokyo, 1956,
commissioned the imperial kilns to recreate or pl. 46; and a celadon-glazed example sold in
imitate. Even the unglazed foot has been stained these rooms, 25th November 1981, lot 323.
with a brown wash to simulate its predecessors. The panelled shape of this vase was also suited
to underglaze-blue designs; for example see
See a closely related example of similar size from one in the Palace Museum, Beijing, illustrated
the collection of Sakamoto Gorō, sold in these in Treasures of the Royalty. The Official Kiln
rooms, 8th October 2014, lot 3508. Smaller vases Porcelain of the Qing Dynasty, Shanghai, 2003,
of this type include one sold in our New York pl. 238.
IMPORTANT CHINESE ART 223
