Page 64 - 2020 Sept Important Chinese Art Sotheby's NYC Asia Week

9/2/2020 Important Chinese Art | Sotheby's

preeminent Superintendent at Jingdezhen, craftsmen of the imperial kilns strived to create novel designs that combined elements
from China’s glorious porcelain tradition with innovative forms and techniques. This vase testifies to this trend; its style of
painting, motif and choice of palette provide an immediate reference to the great works of the Yuan (1279-1368) and Ming (1368-
1644) dynasties, while its form and the exquisitely painted band of ruyi and florets at the shoulder are characteristic of the
decorative arts of the 18th century. The result is a striking vessel that appears at once both familiar and fresh.

Vessels painted with contrasting designs in underglaze blue and red were first made at Jingdezhen during the Yuan dynasty. This
palette, which was very rarely used, was largely abandoned after the Xuande reign (r. 1426-35), due to the difficulty in controlling
the pigment. Copper red was notoriously difficult to fire and required precise control of the firing temperature and atmosphere
inside the kiln, and often yielded blurred designs that were considered unsatisfactory. New techniques that allowed control of the
pigment were developed in the early Qing dynasty, and by the Qianlong reign the priority was achieving a vibrant and rich tone of
red, as on this vase. The Qianlong Emperor’s insistence on excellence is noted in a court record of 1738, where he rated the color of
a copper-red meiping with dragon design as not good enough (Feng Xianming, Annotated Collection of Historical Documents on
Ancient Chinese Ceramics, Taipei, 2000, p. 232).

This vase is very rare and only one closely related example appears to have been published, in the collection of the Tibet Museum,
Lhasa, illustrated in Xizang bowuguan cang Ming Qing ciqi jingping/ Ming and Qing dynasties ceramics preserved in Tibet Museum,
Beijing, 2004, p. 122 (fig.1). Compare also a vase of similar form but with slightly different decorative bands at the shoulder, sold in
our Hong Kong rooms, 17th May 1988, lot 198. A similar floral motif in underglaze red and blue is found on meiping vases, such as
one with a Qianlong mark and of the period, sold in our London rooms, 16th June 1999, lot 810, and again at Christie’s London,
10th May 2011, lot 276; and an unmarked example in the Palace Museum, Beijing, illustrated in The Complete Collection of
Treasures in the Palace Museum. Blue and White Porcelain with Underglaze Red (III), Hong Kong, 2000, pl. 207.

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