Page 363 - 2019 September 13th Christie's New York Important Chinese Works of Art

The ‘robin’s egg’-blue glaze frst appeared during
the Yongzheng period, refecting the Yongzheng
and Qianlong period interest in producing glazes
that were both attractive in color and innovative
in their use of texture. The Taocheng jishi bei
(Commemorative Stele on Ceramic Production)
lists the ‘robin’s egg’-blue glaze as the frst of
nineteen most popular glazes from the Imperial
factory in 1735.
‘Robin’s egg’-blue glazes were used on vessels of
various shapes. This particular shape is called biqi
in Chinese, which means water chestnut, as the
shape resembles that tuber. A Qianlong-marked
vase of the same size and shape as the present
vase, but with a Ru-type glaze, is illustrated by Xu
Huping (ed.) in The Oficial Kilu Porcelain of the
Chinese Qing Dynasty, Shanghai, 2003, p. 332.

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