Page 214 - Fine Chinese Art Christies London May 2018

(another view)

207
AN UNDERGLAZE BLUE AND COPPER-RED ‘PRUNUS’ MEIPING a way as to encourage visual comparison with a turbulent spring river – its
18TH CENTURY fow quickened by added water from melting ice. This reminder of spring
The vase is decorated with a single fowering tree, the contours of the bark are is in keeping with the plum blossoms, which in China were always regarded
skilfully executed in shades of cobalt blue. The branches which extend across as a harbinger of spring. The roundness and delicacy of the blossoms is in
the shoulder and body of the vase are laden with a multitude of copper-red pleasing contrast to angularity and dense colour of the trunk of the tree.
prunus fowers. The rim and the foot are encircled with a double line.
20√ in. (53 cm.) high This vase has no minor bands, and the section of blossoming plum covers
the whole of the body of the vessel. The style and layout of the decoration is
£70,000-90,000 $99,000-130,000
€81,000-100,000 reminiscent of that seen on scroll paintings, although in the case of the vase
the design has been ingeniously adjusted to accommodate the vase’s curved
surface. The efect is both artistic and powerful.
This unusually large and handsome vase is skilfully decorated in underglaze
cobalt blue and copper red. The copper red has been well controlled and This vase could have inspired a very aesthetically similar vase dated to the
appears as a soft raspberry colour, which is particularly efective for the 20th century sold at Christie’s London, 16 May 2014, lot 1238.
depiction of the plum blossoms. The painting style is unusually bold and
painterly. The gnarled tree trunk is painted in vivid blue with textures sharply 清十八世紀 青花釉裡紅梅花紋梅瓶
diferentiated by varying depths of colour. The trunk twists and turns in such

212 Other fees apply in addition to the hammer price – see Section D of our Conditions of Sale at the back of this Catalogue