Page 62 - Chinese Art Paris Auction Christie's December 2017

The shape is in imitation of a Han Dynasty
bronze hu vase, and archaic bronze vases of this
type were undoubtedly available in the Imperial
collections in the 18th century. Ru glazes have
traditionally been much admired by Chinese
connoisseurs, and were copied on porcelain
as early as the 15th century. Excavations at the
imperial kilns at Jingdezhen have revealed that
Ru-type glazes were being made for the Ming
imperial court.
In 1984 a porcelain bowl with inverted rim and Ru-
type glaze was excavated from the Xuande stratum
at the imperial kilns published in Imperial Porcelain
of the Yongle and Xuande Periods Excavated from
the Site of the Ming Imperial Factory at Jingdezhen,
Urban Council Hong Kong, 1989, pp. 276-7, no. 97.
The imitation of this revered glaze became even
more popular at court in the 18th century under the
Yongzheng and Qianlong Emperors.
Large Yongzheng-marked vases of this form
covered in this glaze are extremely rare. Compare
to a slightly smaller ru-glazed fanghu with a
Yongzheng seal mark, also from a French collection,
sold in Christie’s Hong Kong, 30 November 2016,
lot 3316. See a very simlarly decorated but smaller
Yongzheng-marked guan-type glazed hu vase,
from the Collection of Robert Hatfeld Ellsworth,
sold in Christie’s New York, 19 March 2015, lot 426.

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