Page 81 - Fine Imperial Porcelain at Sothebys Hong Kong April 3 2019

This rare vase epitomises the archaistic taste of the
Yongzheng period. The dense floral scroll on this vase,
simulating the ‘heaping and piling effect’, is clearly inspired
by early Ming blue and white porcelain. Its form, however,
hints at China’s revered metalwork tradition. Although
individual design components were prevalent at the time, the
combination of this form and design appears to be rare.
For prototypes of composite floral scrolls, see two Xuande
examples from the Qing Court collection preserved in
the Palace Museum, Beijing: a blue and white moonflask
without handles and a tall ewer with an angular spout, both
illustrated in Geng Baochang, ed., Gugong Bowuyuan cang
Ming chu qinghua ci [Early Ming blue-and-white porcelain in
the Palace Museum], vol. 1, pls 86 and 92.
The form of this vase was inspired by metal bottles with long
necks and flattened body, which were made from as early
as the Han dynasty (206 BC-AD 220). The form had already
been adopted by potters of the Song period (960-1279),
and given the Emperor’s reverence for official wares of the
Song dynasty, it is difficult to determine which version was
most influential for the creation of this vase. A bronze bottle
attributed to the Han dynasty, in the Metropolitan Museum
of Art, New York, is published on the Museum’s website,
accession no. 2007.133. See also a Longquan celadon bottle
covered in a ge-type glaze, unearthed at the Wayaolu kiln
site near Xiaomei, Longquan, illustrated in Selection of Ge
Ware. The Palace Museum Collection and Archaeological
Discoveries, Beijing, 2017, pl. 90.
Vases of this form and painted with this motif are rare, and
only one related example, but of smaller size, appears to
have been published: from the Grandidier collection in the
Musée Guimet, Paris, it is illustrated in Oriental Ceramics.
The World’s Great Collections, Tokyo, 1981, vol. 7, pl. 163.
See also a smaller Yongzheng mark and period vase of this
form, but the floral scroll design painted in copper red, sold
in our London rooms, 19th June 1984, lot 350.
This form is also known on Yongzheng mark and period
vases covered in a monochrome glaze, such as a Ru-type
vase in the Palace Museum, Beijing, illustrated in Selection of
Ru Ware. The Palace Museum’s Collection and Archaeological
Excavations, Beijing, 2015, pl. 95.

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