Page 122 - Important Chinese Ceramics and Works of Art Christie's Hong Kong May 29, 2019

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A RARE ROBIN’S-EGG-GLAZED LANTERN VASE
QIANLONG SIX-CHARACTER IMPRESSED SEAL MARK AND OF THE
PERIOD (1736-1795)
The ovoid vase is moulded on either side in relief with inverted
vase-form handles just below the sloping shoulder. It is covered
overall with an unctuous glaze which cascades down the vase of
rich mottled glaze of deep turquoise, maroon, and purple tones at
the body, and turquoise and purple tones on the base, reminiscent
of the colours of peacock feathers.
9 æ in. (24.7 cm.) high, Japanese wood box

HK$800,000-1,000,000 US$110,000-130,000
The present ‘robin’s egg’ glaze and its rarer variant ‘peacock
feather’ are both derived from copper mixed with arsenic as
an opacifier, although further research is needed to clarify the
chemistry of these glazes, R. Kerr, Chinese Ceramics, Porcelain
of the Qing Dynasty 1644-1911, Victoria and Albert Museum,
1986, p. 88.
Other robin’s-egg-glazed vases of this shape are recorded: one
in the Musée Guimet, Paris, illustrated in Oriental Ceramics,
Kodansha Series, vol. 7, Tokyo, 1982, no. 184; one included in
An Exhibition of Important Chinese Ceramics from the Robert
Chang Collection, Christie’s London, 1993, illustrated in the
Catalogue, no. 49; and another illustrated by A. du Boulay,
Christie’s Pictorial History of Chinese Ceramics, London, 1984,
p. 220, fig. 3 which was sold at Christie’s Hotel Okura, Tokyo,
Part II, 16 and 17 February 1980, lot 838.

清乾隆 爐鈞釉燈籠瓶 六字篆書印款

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