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A FINE CLAIR-DE-LUNE-GLAZED WASHER, 清康熙 天藍釉鏜鑼洗
MARK AND PERIOD OF KANGXI 《大清康熙年製》款
the base with a six-character mark in underglaze blue
Diameter 4⅝ in., 11.6 cm 來源
美國私人收藏（傳）
PROVENANCE
American Private Collection (by repute).
Brush washers were an essential part of the scholar’s
studio, permitting the erudite occupant to refresh his
brush and elegantly express his ideas through ink. During
the Qing dynasty, small porcelain objects for the scholar’s
table, including brush washers, waterpots, and amphora
vases, were produced in two new glazes, ‘peachbloom’
and ‘clair de lune’. Whilst brush washers are more commonly
found than other forms, far fewer examples appear to
survive in pale blue than in ‘peachbloom’.
Washers of this elegant form and subtle coloration are an
innovation of the Kangxi reign and display the great technical
advances made at the imperial kilns in Jingdezhen at the
beginning of the Qing dynasty, which saw the creation of
numerous monochrome glazes. The tian lan (sky blue) glaze
is among the most striking products of the imperial kilns and
was achieved by diminishing the amount of cobalt oxide in
the glaze mix. Vessels covered in this delicate glaze are often
very finely potted, an indication that they were probably
made in the latter years of the Kangxi reign, as suggested by
Suzanne G. Valenstein in A Handbook of Chinese Ceramics,
New York, 1989, p. 241.
Three ‘clair-de-lune’ brush washers of this type from the
Wiedener Collection, now in the National Gallery of Art,
Washington D.C., are illustrated in Decorative Arts, pt. II,
Washington, 1998, pp 98 and 99; two in the Baur Collection,
are published in John Ayers, The Baur Collection, Geneva,
vol. 3, 1973, pls A318 and A320; and a further example was
sold in our Hong Kong rooms, 1st November 1999, lot 341
and again in our London rooms, 12th July 2006, lot 153.
$ 50,000-70,000

80 SOTHEBY’S COMPLETE CATALOGUING AVAILABLE AT SOTHEBYS.COM/N11744 81