Page 160 - Christies Fine Chinese Works of Art March 2016 New York

1433 1433 (mark)

A SMALL BRONZE VASE
KANGXI FOUR-CHARACTER CAST MARK AND OF THE PERIOD (1662-1722)

The vase is cast with a compressed body rising from a low, spreading foot to a
lipped rim, and the waisted neck is fanked by a pair of angular handles. The base
is cast with a pair of dragons surrounding the mark, Kangxi nian zhi.
4¿ in (10.7 cm.) high

$10,000-15,000

Bronze vessels bearing Kangxi marks appear to be extremely rare and very few examples
have been published. A bronze square hu vase in the Clague Collection bearing a Kangxi
four-character mark is illustrated by B. Mowry, China’s Rennaissance in Bronze – The
Robert H. Clague Collection of Later Chinese Bronzes 1100-1900, Phoenix, 1993, pp. 174-
175, no. 36, where the author notes that the Clague vase “numbers among a small group
of bronzes with Kangxi marks.” In the same catalogue, a Kangxi-marked gold-splashed
ovoid vase from the collections of Dr. Sidney Smith and Robert H. Clague is illustrated, p.
167, no. 34.
清康熙 銅方耳小瓶 「康熙年製」楷書鑄款

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