Page 92 - Chinese Art Bonhams San Francisco December 18, 2017

963A
A PAIR OF CAST BRONZE JARS, ZUN
Qianlong marks, late Qing/Republic period
Each of substantial weight, cast with a short neck, a high, rounded
shoulder supporting a pair of deer head handles and a full body
tapering inward toward the foot, the recessed base bearing six-
character mark in seal script.
10 1/2in (26.8cm) high
$40,000 - 60,000

These vases replicate in bronze a group of monochrome glazed
porcelain jars, zun, made for use at various imperial sacrificial altars
from the Ming period onward: white associated with the Altar of the
Moon, red for the Altar of the Sun, yellow for the Altar of Earth and blue
for the Altar of Heaven. For a yellow glazed jar from the Ming Hongzhi
period (1488-1505), see Gugong Bowuyuan Cang Wenwu Zhenpin
Quanji 37:Yanse You (The Complete Collection of Treasures of the
Palace Museum 37: Monochrome Porcelain), pp. 40-42, no. 36 (32cm
high). For examples from the Qianlong period, see Rose Kerr, Chinese
Ceramics: Porcelain of the Qing Dynasty, 1644-1911, 1986, pp. 23-
24, figure 9 (iron red associated with the Altar of the Sun); and p.32,
pl. 15, (sky blue glaze which the author associates with the Temple of
the Moon). For a white glazed example from the Qianlong period, see
Christie’s, Hong Kong sale 2309, 30 May 2006, lot 1303 (27.1cm high).

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