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A RARE AND LARGE RU-TYPE This rare vase is remarkable for its subtle Ceramic Art S W Bushell Oriental
HU-FORM VASE bluish glaze, the purity of which accentuates 1981 195
YONGZHENG SEAL MARK AND the graceful curves of its pro le. Created in 78
PERIOD imitation of the celebrated Ru-wares of the 69 1989 249
Song period, this vase re ects the Yongzheng 2011 11 9
of archaistic bronze form, the broad pear-shaped Emperor’s penchant for these early wares and the
body rising from a slightly spreading foot to a remarkable technical developments achieved at
waisted neck encircled with a raised llet and the imperial kilns and made to meet the speci c
taste of the emperor. While a delicate celadon
anked by a pair of single-horn mythical animal- glaze had already been developed in the Kangxi
mask handles suspending mock rings, covered reign, it was during the Yongzheng period that
overall with a thick lavender-blue glaze, save the production of glazes imitating Song dynasty
for the unglazed foot ring, the base with a six- Ru and guan wares greatly expanded. According
character seal mark in underglaze blue to the 1732 edition of the Jiangxi tongzhi [Jiangxi
Height 13¼ in., 33.7 cm provincial gazetteer], compiled by Xie Min,
governor of Jiangxi province between 1729 and
PROVENANCE 1732, two di erent types of Ru-type glazes were
developed, one displaying a subtle network of
Collection of Fred and Marguerite Shumaker, crackles and the other of even tone, as seen on
Larchmont, New York, acquired in the early this vase (S.W. Bushell, Oriental Ceramic Art,
1930s, and thence by descent. London, 1981, p. 195).

$ 200,000-300,000

Vases of this type are rare and only two other Cunli e Soame
related examples, but covered in a crackled
Ru-type glaze, appear to have been published; Jenyns Later Chinese Porcelain
one of slightly smaller size in the Palace Museum,
Beijing, is illustrated in Kangxi Yongzheng 1951 CIV 2
Qianlong. Qing Porcelain from the Palace Museum
Fred Marguerite Shumaker Collection, Hong Kong, 1989, p. 249, pl. 78; and
the other was o ered in our London rooms, 9th
Larchmont 1930 November 2011, lot 69. 1 II 2005

Vases of this form are also known covered 39
in other monochrome glazes; see a tea-dust
glazed vase, from the collection of Lord Cunli e, 276 105
illustrated in Soame Jenyns, Later Chinese
Porcelain, London, 1951, pl. CIV, no. 2; a ambé- 1989 11 14 75 1991
glazed example in the Palace Museum, Beijing,
published in Qingdai yuyao ciqi [Qing porcelain 10 29 133
form the imperial kilns preserved in the Palace
Museum], vol. 1, pt. II, Beijing, 2005, pl. 39; and 5 18 1988
a celadon-glazed vase, with relief decoration, 578 234 1997 4 29
also in the Palace Museum, Beijing, published in 26
Kangxi Yongzheng Qianlong, op. cit., p. 276, pl. 1989 9
105. Compare also a Yongzheng mark and period 696
vase of this form, painted in underglaze blue with
a composite oral scroll, sold twice in our Hong
Kong rooms, 14th November 1989, lot 75, and
29th October 1991, lot 133.

The form of this vase appears to have acquired
popularity in the succeeding Qianlong reign; see
two slightly smaller Qianlong mark and period
vases sold in our Hong Kong rooms, 18th May
1988, lot 234, and 29th April 1997, lot 578;
and a third sold at Christie’s Hong Kong, 26th
September 1989, lot 696, and another, with ‘Ru’-
type glaze, sold in these rooms, 15th September
2010, lot 261.

20 SOTHEBY’S