Page 86 - 2020 October 8 HK Fine Classical Paintings

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PROPERTY FROM AN IMPORTANT ASIAN PRIVATE COLLECTION It is extremely rare to find a Yongzheng ‘robin’s egg’ vase
A RARE ROBIN’S-EGG GLAZED MALLET VASE of this mallet form. Robin’s egg glaze is a bicolour glazing
SEAL MARK AND PERIOD OF YONGZHENG technique whereby the turquoise glaze was blown onto the
blue-glazed vessel to produce a delicate stippled effect. It
the well-proportioned body slightly tapering towards the foot, is also known as lujun or ‘furnace Jun’ in China due to the
rising to a wide angled shoulder surmounted by a cylindrical low temperature of the furnace when firing the glaze. Earlier
neck, applied liberally overall with a brilliant opaque turquoise- examples were prone to streaking and unevenness in texture;
blue glaze heightened with purplish-brown cascades, the therefore Yongzheng vases such as the present example
recessed base incised with a four-character seal mark are rare. Yongzheng mark and period vessels covered in a
16.1 cm, 6¼ in. robin’s egg glaze include a miniature vase, from the Qing
Court collection and still in Beijing, published in The Complete
HK$ 1,000,000-1,500,000 Collection of Treasures of the Palace Museum. Monochrome
US$ 129,000-194,000 Porcelain, Hong Kong, 1999, pl. 187; and a rectangular
jardinière sold in these rooms, 11th April 2008, lot 2816.
清雍正 爐鈞釉紙槌瓶 For the origins of the mallet form see a Southern Song

Longquan vase originally in the Hachisuka family collection,
《雍正年製》款 sold in our London rooms, 8th November 2006, lot 54 and
again at Christie’s Hong Kong, 26th November 2018, lot 8007.
It has been suggested by several scholars that this shape,
despite resembling a paper mallet, may in fact have been
introduced to China as a glass vase or bottle from the Islamic
west, possibly Iran. An Islamic glass bottle vase, probably from
Nishapur, North East Iran, was among the treasures found in
the tomb of the Princess of Chen, Liao dynasty, dating to no
later than 1018 and illustrated in Grand View: Special Exhibition
of Ju Ware from the Northern Sung Dynasty, National Palace
Museum, Taipei, 2007, cat. no. 25, fig. 2. Fragments of glass
vessels of this shape were found in 1997 among the excavated
material from the cargo of the Intan shipwreck excavated
off the Indonesian coast. This ship is believed to date to the
Northern Song period. Furthermore, according to the Yi Jian
Zhi [Record of Yi Jian] by the Song scholar official Hong Mai,
Emperor Huizong owned a collection of imported glass.

Mark

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