Page 28 - Important Chinese Art Hong Kong Sotheby's April 2017
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These vases are exceptional for their imposing form and No simulated bronze vase of this large shape and this type
design which have been inspired by archaic bronzes, and are of decoration appears to be otherwise recorded, although
particularly rare for their original matching zitan stands. They a Qianlong mark and period café-au-lait covered hu-form
pay testament to the Emperor’s keen interest in antiquity vase with two bands of taotie masks against a leiwen ground
and his subsequent aesthetic taste which dictated porcelain between plain bands, flanked with monster mask handles,
production in the imperial kilns. The craftsman’s ability made to imitate later archaistic bronzes, was sold in our New
successfully to translate patinated bronze into several layers York rooms, 5th November 1977, lot 223, and again in these
of enamel, complete with an archaistic design, reveals the rooms, 22nd May 1979, lot 232.
incomparable advances in porcelain technology achieved
during the Qianlong Emperor’s reign and the endless styles Although unique, the present vases are related to other
that were able to be achieved to satisfy his taste for the novel. simulation vases produced for the Qianlong Emperor; compare
a massive vase in the Palace Museum, Beijing, echoing an
Among the many simulations created by the imperial archaic bronze zun with a narrow band of robin’s-egg glaze
workshops for the Qianlong Emperor, those imitating archaic reserved on an overall teadust surface, illustrated in Kangxi,
bronzes appear to have been the most popular. Qianlong Yongzheng, Qianlong. Qing Porcelain from the Palace Museum
is known to have studied and added to the vast imperial Collection, Beijing, 1989, p. 412, pl. 93, together with a gu and
collection of ritual bronzes, particularly from the late Shang (c. a bell simulating bronzes, pp. 414f, pls 95 and 96. See also
1600-c. 1050 BC) and Western Zhou (c. 1050-771 BC) periods. a miniature vase of hu form with a much simpler decoration
These were then used as the basis for trompe-l’oeil versions. simulating inlaid bronze, with a band of coffee-coloured
Soame Jenyns in Later Chinese Porcelain, London, 1951, p. dragon motifs raised on a mottled turquoise glaze, included
60, mentions that a stone tablet was excavated in Jingdezhen in the Min Chiu Society exhibition An Anthology of Chinese
in 1915 titled ‘Orders and Memoranda on Porcelain’ at which Ceramics, Hong Kong Museum of Art, Hong Kong, 1980, cat.
Tang Ying, Superintendent at the Imperial Kilns at Jingdezhen, no. 138, sold in these rooms, 14th November 1989, lot 340; a
discusses his efforts to simulate bronze vessels. robin’s-egg and gilt-decorated vase, from the collections of
Alfred Morrison and the Fonthill Heirlooms, sold at Christie’s
Bronzes were cleverly simulated through a variety of glazes, London, 18th October 1971, lot 52, and again in these rooms,
typically a brown of ‘café-au-lait’ or ‘teadust’ type heightened 9th October 2012, lot 3004, from the collection of J.T. Tai. A
with gold, and this was often combined with a mottled vase of lei form, modelled in the style of late Ming and early
turquoise or green enamel to evoke the blue-green patina of Qing bronzes and in turn inspired by archaic bronze originals of
ancient metalwork. It is unusual, however, to find vases with an the Western Zhou period (c.1046-771 BC), illustrated in Regina
effect so close to the originals. Krahl, Chinese Ceramics from the Meiyintang Collection,
London, 1994, vol. 2, pl. 953, sold at Christie’s London, 1st
The robust pear-form is based on ancient hu ritual vases which October 1991, lot 809, and again in these rooms, 5th October
the Qing craftsman has modified from a bottom-heavy form 2011, lot 19.
to that of a more rounded body and removed the small tubular
handles. Furthermore, the angular scrolls of the ancient taotie For an example of a hu with similar bands of taotie masks,
mask are rendered in swirling curls, which accentuate the form see one attributed to the middle Anyang period of the Shang
of the vase, and the leiwen ground which originally surrounded dynasty (13th-12th century BC), in the National Palace
the taotie has been moved as design bands in their own right. Museum, Taipei, included in the Museum’s exhibition Shang
The resulting objects are firmly rooted in antiquity while Ritual Bronzes in the National Palace Museum, Taipei, 1998,
maintaining a contemporary aesthetic. cat. no. 61.
26 SOTHEBY’S 蘇富比
