Page 228 - September 20 2021 Chinese Works of Art Bonhams NYC

PROPERTY FROM THE ESTATE OF ROBERT P. YOUNGMAN
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A MAGNIFICENT AND RARE ‘ROBIN’S-EGG’ GLAZED This magnificent and finely molded vase under a brilliant rich ‘robin’s-
ARCHAISTIC TWO-HANDLED VASE, HU egg’ glaze that covers the entire exterior surface and the upper-half
Qianlong impressed six-character seal mark and of the period of the interior, is modelled after a Late Western Zhou Dynasty bronze
The finely potted vessel molded in low-relief with sinuous stylized vessel, hu, of a type illustrated by Christian Deydier, Chinese Bronzes,
interlaced dragons and scrolls on the elongated rounded body below Friborg, Switzerland, 1980, p. 225, no. 64. Whilst that hu is of a more
a single bow-string band at the mid-neck and three wavy bands slender profile than our ceramic vessel, the cast decoration on the
on the waisted upper-neck above six small molded ruyi-heads, the body and the neck appears to be identical. See also, William Watson,
shoulder is divided on either side by animal-headed handles, the Ancient Chinese Bronzes, London 1976, no’s. 52 and 53 for two other
short waisted foot with a single wavy band between single bow-string examples.
bands.
20 1/8in (51.2cm) high This design on our hu is known from a small group of identically
decorated Imperial Yongzheng and Qianlong-marked porcelain
$400,000 - 600,000 vessels of a smaller size (7 5/8in, 19.3cm) that are invariably glazed
in a pale celadon-green glaze. For a Yongzheng-marked example in
清乾隆 爐鈞釉雙耳壺 《大清乾隆年製》款 the Palace Museum, Beijing, see Kangxi, Yongzheng, Qianlong, Hong
Kong, 1989, p. 276, no. 105. (See Fig. 1).

The use of a ‘robin’s-egg’ glaze on this style of vessel, with coiling
serpent dragon design, appears to be unique.

Fig. 1

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