Page 332 - Christies Fine Chinese Works of Art March 2016 New York

VARIOUS PROPERTIES

1622

A GE-TYPE MALLET-FORM VASE
QIANLONG SIX-CHARACTER SEAL-MARK IN
UNDERGLAZE BLUE AND OF THE PERIOD (1735-
1796)

The domed body rises gently to a slightly
tapering cylindrical neck, all under a pale grey
glaze suffused with a network of black crackle
that continues over the rim and also covers the
base. The bottom of the foot is covered with a
black dressing.

11º in. (28.6 cm.) high

$40,000-60,000

The glaze on this rare vase is based on one of the
‘Five famous wares of the Song dynasty’ - Ge ware.
The other four famous wares are Ru, Guan, Ding and
Jun. All fve of these Song dynasty wares were greatly
admired by the emperors of the high Qing, and during
the Yongzheng reign much research and development
was undertaken in order to reproduce these glazes
on the porcelains made at the imperial kilns at
Jingdezhen. Like his father, the Qianlong emperor was
fascinated by antiques and encouraged the craftsmen
working for the court to reproduce them. In some
instances, he even had pieces inscribed Qianlong fang
gu (literally, Qianlong copying the ancient).

The Ge-type glaze on the current vessel is especially
successful, reproducing the close crackle and slight
translucency of the glaze to very good efect, even on
the base of the vase. The shape and size of the current
vase are both very rare. The shape is of particular
interest since there are at least two possible sources
from among ancient forms. It is possible that the
shape is a simplifed version of an ancient bronze
bell shape, which had an elongated tubular handle
protruding from the body. The other possibility is that
the shape derives from the paper-mallet form, which
has its origins in wood, but can be seen adapted as
a ceramic vase among Song dynasty Ding wares,
such as the example in the Percival David Foundation
illustrated by S. Pierson and S. F. M. McCausland,
Song Ceramics: Objects of Admiration, Percival David
Foundation, London, 2003, pp. 20-1, no. 1. It also
appears among Southern Song Guan wares, like the
vase in the Freer Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C.,
illustrated in Oriental Ceramics, The World’s Great
Collections, vol. 9, Tokyo, 1981, pl. 1.

清乾隆 仿哥釉紙槌瓶 六字篆書款

(mark)

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