Page 347 - Christies IMportant Chinese Art Sept 26 2020 NYC

PROPERTY FROM A WEST COAST PRIVATE
COLLECTION
1828
A RARE LARGE UNDERGLAZE-BLUE
AND COPPER-RED-DECORATED VASE,
MEIPING
18TH CENTURY
The vase is decorated with a single flowering
prunus tree, the contours of the bark skilfully
executed in shades of cobalt blue. The branches
which extend around the shoulder and sides are
laden with a multitude of copper-red prunus
blossoms.
21º in. (54 cm. high)

$30,000-50,000
PROVENANCE:
Harold Wagner, San Francisco, 1960.
John Yeon (1910-1994) Collection, Portland,
Oregon, acquired in 1960.
EXHIBITED:
Portland, Portland Art Museum, Quest of Beauty:
The Architecture, Landscapes, and Collections of
John Yeon, 2017.

This unusually large and handsome vase is
skilfully decorated in underglaze cobalt blue
and copper red. The copper red has been well
controlled and appears as a soft raspberry
color, which is particularly effective for the
depiction of the plum blossoms. The painting
style is unusually bold and painterly. The gnarled
tree trunk is painted in vivid blue, its textures
sharply differentiated by varying depths of color.
The trunk twists and turns in such a way as to
encourage visual comparison with a turbulent
spring river – its flow quickened by added water
from melting ice. This reminder of spring is in
keeping with the theme of plum blossoms, which
in China were always regarded as a harbinger
of spring. The roundness and delicacy of the
blossoms is in pleasing contrast to the angularity
and dense color of the trunk of the tree.
This vase has no minor bands, and the section
of the blossoming tree covers the whole of the
body of the vessel. The style and layout of the
decoration is 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
effect is both artistic and powerful. A meiping
with very similar decoration was sold at Christie's
London, 15 May, 2018, lot 207.

清十八世紀 青花礬紅梅紋梅瓶