Page 22 - Sotheby's Chinese Art and Porcelain Auction New York September 12, 2018

105

A SUPERB PEACHBLOOM-GLAZED ‘BEEHIVE’ Striking for its vibrant crimson-red glaze, this waterpot
WATERPOT is a rare example that has been successfully Þ red to an
extraordinary quality. Copper pigment is notoriously
KANGXI MARK AND PERIOD
di" cult to control due to its temperamental nature, and the
Þ nely potted of classic domed ‘taibai zun’ form, the slightly number of examples featuring di! erent tones of red glaze
tapering sides rising to a rounded shoulder and short impressively highlights the di" culties experienced by the
waisted neck below a lipped mouth rim, the exterior evenly potters working at the imperial kilns during the Kangxi period
applied overall save for the rim and base with a vibrant (r. 1662-1722). This attractive glaze is found only on a select
crimson-red glaze su! used with green sprinkles imitating group of vessels for the scholar’s table in eight di! erent
the skin of a ripening peach, the body further faintly incised shapes, one of the most iconic groups of porcelain created
with three stylized archaistic dragon roundels, the recessed under the Kangxi emperor.
white base with a six-character mark in three columns in Compare two closely related examples sold in our Hong
underglaze blue Kong rooms, one from the collections of Dudley L. Pickman
Diameter 5 in., 12.7 cm
and General Charles G. Loring, 5th April 2017, lot 1113,
the second, 4th April 2012, lot 3101; and another from the
PROVENANCE
Robert Chang Collection, included in An Exhibition Important
Collection of Stephen Junkunc, III (d. 1978). Chinese Ceramics from the Robert Chang Collection,
Christie’s London, 1993, cat. no. 36.
$ 200,000-300,000
Further waterpots of this type include one in the Palace
㶭⹟䅁ġġġ寯寮䲭慱⛀漵䲳⣒䘥⮲ Museum, Beijing, illustrated in Kangxi. Yongzheng. Qianlong.
Qing Porcelain from the Palace Museum Collection, Hong
˪⣏㶭⹟䅁⸜墥˫㫦 Kong, 1989, p. 142, pl. 125; one in the Shanghai Museum,
Ը๕ Shanghai, published in Wang Qingzheng, ed., Kangxi
Porcelain Wares from the Shanghai Museum Collection, Hong
⎚吪剔ɀ䑲偗ᶱᶾ炷1978⸜必炸㓞啷
Kong, 1998, pl. 206; another from the Sir Percival David
Collection, now in the British Museum, London, published in
Margaret Medley, Ming and Qing Monochrome Wares in the
Percival David Foundation of Chinese Art, London, 1989, pl.
580; and a fourth example, sold at Christie’s Hong Kong, 8th
October 1990, lot 467, and again in our Hong Kong rooms,
6th April 2016, lot 3612.
These waterpots are known as taibai zun after the Tang
dynasty poet Li Taibai, who is often depicted leaning against
a large wine jar of similar form, as seen in a porcelain
sculpture which shows the poet seated with closed eyes and
a cup in hand, published in Kangxi. Yongzheng. Qianlong.
Qing Porcelain from the Palace Museum Collection, op. cit., p.
106, pl. 89. They are also referred to as jizhao zun, because
their shape resembles that of a chicken coop.

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