Page 181 - J.J. Lally Chinese Art CHRISTIE'S March 23 2023 NYC
P. 181

~895 A LARGE TIANBAI-GLAZED JAR  明永樂ǭ甜白釉大罐
 YONGLE PERIOD (1403-1425)
 The heavily-potted high-shouldered jar is covered overall with   Ϝ源
 a fine 'sweet white' glaze shading to pale greenish-blue, with the   藍理捷
 紐約
 編號
 base and bottom of the foot left unglazed.
 展覽
 紐約
 藍理捷
 「$IJOFTF $FSBNJDT JO #MBDL BOE 8IJUF」
 13¡ in. (34 cm.) high, hardwood and rootwood cover with jade
 年 月    月  日
 finial, cloth box
 $20,000-30,000  ֨ḛ
 藍理捷
 《$IJOFTF $FSBNJDT JO #MBDL BOE 8IJUF》
 紐約
 PROVENANCE:  年
 編號
 J. J. Lally & Co., New York, no. 4291.
 EXHIBITED:
 New York, J. J. Lally & Co., Chinese Ceramics in Black and White,
 20 March-10 April 2010.

 LITERATURE:
 J. J. Lally & Co., Chinese Ceramics in Black and White, New York,
 2010, no. 34

 This jar is a rare example of the so-called tianbai (sweet white)
 glaze applied to a large vessel. The slightly matte, silky tianbai glaze
 was developed in the Yongle reign (1403-25) in response to the
 emperor's preference for white porcelains and his desire to have
 fine white wares both for use in the Palace and for ceremonial
 purposes. Excavations at the site of the Imperial kilns have shown
 that by far the greatest proportion of imperial porcelains made
 during the Yongle reign were white. Even in the Xuande reign
 (1426-35), when imperial production was dominated by underglaze
 blue-decorated wares, fine tianbai white wares were highly prized
 by the court. Few surviving white vessels from either reign period,
 however, match the large size of the current jar.

 An early Ming ‘sweet white’-glazed jar of slightly larger size
 than the present jar, with lotus-leaf shaped porcelain cover, in the
 collection of the Nanjing Museum, is illustrated by Xu Huping
 in The Treasures of the Nanjing Museum, Hong Kong, 2001, p. 56,
 no. 39. Another slightly larger white jar of similar shape to the
 current example was excavated from the Xuande strata of the
 Imperial kilns at Jingdezhen in 1983, illustrated 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. 212-3, no. 65. See, also, another smaller guan of closely related
 form, with dragons lightly engraved under a ‘sweet white’ (tian bai)
 glaze, excavated from the site of the Ming imperial kilns at
 Jingdezhen and dated to the Yongle period, illustrated in Yuan and
 Ming Imperial Porcelains Unearthed from Jingdezhen, Beijing, 1999,
 p. 146, no. 95.















 178                                                                                                                       179
   176   177   178   179   180   181   182   183   184   185   186