Page 16 - Sotheby's Chinese Art and Porcelain Auction New York September 12, 2018

102

AN EXTREMELY RARE MOLDED
COPPER-RED-DECORATED ‘DRAGON’
AMPHORA VASE
KANGXI MARK AND PERIOD

the sides ß aring from a narrow foot and rising
to a slender, waisted neck with three raised
Þ llets encircling the lower neck and silver-
mounted everted rim, the lower body molded
in low relief and incised with turbulent waves
strewn with ribbon-like currents and plumes
of sea spray, two sinuous dragons painted in
liver-toned copper red rising formidably from
the sea, their three-clawed paws outstretched
and jaws open wide, the recessed base with a
six-character mark in underglaze blue
Height 8⅛ in., 20.6 cm
PROVENANCE
Collection of Stephen Junkunc, III (d. 1978).
The present vase belongs to a small group of
Kangxi-marked amphorae molded with dragons
leaping from crashing waves. However, even
within this rare type, this vase stands out as
perhaps the only example in which the dragons
are painted in underglaze-red against a molded
white ground. By contrast, on other amphora
vases of this type, both the dragons and the sea
are molded, and the vase is covered entirely
in celadon glaze. Celadon-glazed versions
include an example in the collection of the
Palace Museum, Beijing, published in Zhongguo
meishu quanji: Gongyi meishu bian, taoci
[Complete Collection of Chinese Art: Decorative
Arts, Ceramics], vol. 3, Shanghai, pl. 157; one
from the Jingguantang Collection, formerly
in the collection of the Tsui Museum of Art,
published in The Tsui Museum of Art: Chinese
Ceramics IV, Qing Dynasty, Hong Kong, 1995,
pl. 3, and sold at Christie’s Hong Kong, 3rd
November 1996, lot 566; one sold in our Hong
Kong rooms, 28th November 1979, lot 363; and
another sold in the same rooms, 23rd October
2005, lot 368.

$ 8,000-12,000
㶭⹟䅁ġġġ䘥慱㘿⇣㴟㯜慱塷䲭漵䲳
厲卼⮲
˪⣏㶭⹟䅁⸜墥˫㫦
Ը๕
⎚吪剔ɀ䑲偗ᶱᶾ炷1978⸜必炸㓞啷

14 SOTHEBY’S IMPORTANT CHINESE ART