Page 112 - Christies Alsdorf Collection Part 1 Sept 24 2020 NYC

崇聖御寶 - 詹姆斯及瑪麗蓮 ·阿爾斯多夫珍藏

bodies of the Song-dynasty ceramics were rather
different from the porcelains of later dynasties and thus
the later celadon glazes required different compositions.
While celadon-type glazes, coloured with small
quantities of reduced iron, applied to a porcelain body
were produced at Jingdezhen in the early Ming period,
the Kangxi potters perfected a particularly delicate
version applied to a very white (low iron) body. The
delicate celadon glaze was coloured using only about
half the amount of iron found in typical Song-dynasty
Longquan celadons, and was further modified in the
Yongzheng period to produce an even more finely
textured and slightly bluer pale celadon glaze. The
Yongzheng emperor is known to have been particularly
fond of these fine pale celadons, and in the 6th year
of his reign (1728) sent a celadon vase to the imperial
kiln with an order to make a flower pot with the same
glaze. The late 17th and 18th century celadons and the
others created with minute variations in tone and texture
have traditionally been greatly admired by Chinese
connoisseurs and have been given names such as douqing
(bean green) and dongqing (eastern green) in the Kangxi
reign, dongqing (winter green) and fenqing (soft green) in
the Yongzheng reign.
Given the imperial admiration for Song-dynasty Ru,
Guan and Ge crackled-glaze wares, and the prevailing
interest in archaism seen at the court of the Kangxi,
Yongzheng and Qianlong Emperors, attempts to apply
Song-type crackled celadon glazes to porcelain were
inevitable, and remarkably successful. The use of Song-
type glazes on porcelains had started at the Imperial kilns
at Jingdezhen in the early Ming dynasty, and was one
of several archaistic trends that continued into the Qing
reigns. Sometimes the Qing-dynasty Song-style wares
made with these archaistic glazes were made in ancient
forms, like the Alsdorf Qianlong vase in the shape of
a bronze hu vessel, and the Alsdorf Yongzheng gui
censer with twin handles, while in other cases they were
applied to a classic or new form.

The Yongzheng Emperor is recorded to have
specifically ordered that good copies of Song glazes be
produced at Jingdezhen, and as early as 1725 ordered
porcelains with Guan-type glazes to be made at
Jingdezhen. Fortunately, the successful copying of these
Song-dynasty stoneware glazes on Qing-dynasty
imperial porcelains was something for which Tang Ying
was to become renowned. Among the ceramics listed
by Tang Ying in his Taocheng jishi are:

110 PART I