Page 180 - 2020 October 8 HK Fine Classical Paintings

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PROPERTY FROM AN IMPORTANT ASIAN PRIVATE COLLECTION 清乾隆 窰變釉蒜頭瓶
A RARE FLAMBÉ-GLAZED GARLIC-MOUTH VASE 《大清乾隆年製》款
SEAL MARK AND PERIOD OF QIANLONG
來源：
the pear-shaped body rising from a splayed foot to a slender
neck surmounted by a garlic-head mouth and thin lip, covered 倫敦佳士得1999年11月16日，編號233
overall save for the footring with a rich and lustrous raspberry-
red glaze with milky-lavender streaks drizzling down from the
cream-coloured rim, the base with a mottled mushroom-brown
wash
25.6 cm, 10⅛ in.
PROVENANCE
Christie’s London, 16th November 1999, lot 233.

HK$ 600,000-800,000
US$ 77,500-104,000

Elegantly shaped with smoothly sloping shoulders and
elongated neck, suantouping or ‘garlic-mouth’ vases are
among the most interesting vessel shapes of Chinese
porcelain. The form, featuring a distinctive bulbous mouth in
the shape of a garlic fruit, was popular in the Ming and Qing
dynasties. Generally, imperial porcelain vases during the Qing
period were manufactured for decorative purposes or as
flower vases. Suantouping, with their typical narrow mouth,
would be suited to hold one flower or a single fruiting branch,
which would match one of those depicted on the vase.
The origin of the ‘garlic-mouth’ as a decorative element, is
uncertain, but the vessel itself is modelled after an archaic
bronze wine vessel named hu with a mouth distinctively
formed of garlic cloves, see Jenny So, Eastern Zhou Ritual
Bronzes from the Arthur M. Sackler Collections, New York,
1995, no. 52, where the hu is attributed to the late Eastern
Zhou, late Warring States period, 4th-3rd century BC. The
bronze hu equally features a slightly flaring ring foot, but a
shorter, rounder body and a longer neck. In its shape, the
suantouping of the Ming period tends to be closer to the
bronze prototype than the Qing variant, which is much more
elegantly shaped and better adapted to Qing court taste.
It is extremely rare to find a Qianlong garlic-mouth vase
with a flambe glaze. The form is more commonly found with
a Ru-type glaze, such as an example from the Qing Court
collection and still in Beijing, illustrated in The Complete
Collection of Treasures of the Palace Museum. Monochrome
Porcelain, Hong Kong, 1999, pl. 215, and one sold in these
rooms, 8th October 2008, lot 2512.

Mark

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