Page 143 - 2021 March 15th Fine Chinese Paintings and Works of Art, Bonhams NYC New York

VARIOUS PROPERTIES
also with the same purplish manganese-red feathery mottling seen in
our example. Another Yongzheng-marked ‘robin’s-egg’ censer of this
164 form was included in Min qiu jing she (Monochrome Ceramics of the
A ROBINS-EGG-GLAZED BOMBE CENSER Ming and Ch’ing Dynasties), Hong Kong Museum of Art, 1977, no. 108.
Impressed Yongzheng seal mark and possibly of the Period A Yongzheng example more recently sold at Christie’s, Hong Kong, 25
The wide swelling body of compressed form and standing on a November 2014, lot 2950. Another, of so-called Peacock-feather glaze,
spreading cylindrical foot ring and below a slightly flared rim, a was illustrated by Chiaki Oshima, The Collection of Chinese Art, Tenth
horizontal U-loop handle attached on either side below the rim and Anniversary Special Exhibition, Senshutey, Tokyo, 2006, p. 90, no. 125.
at the mid-body, all under a viscous turquoise glaze over a deep Another very similarly glazed example sold at Sotheby’s, Hong Kong,
manganese-red, which continues to the interior and across the base 8 October 2010, lot 2665.
and over the impressed six-character horizontal-format seal mark, only
the brown-dressed foot rim exposed. The striking effect of this glaze is seemingly achieved by applying an
7 3/4in (19.6cm) across the handles opaque turquoise glaze colored with copper. For further discussion, see
Rose Kerr, Chinese Ceramics, Porcelain of the Qing Dynasty, London,
$6,000 - 10,000 1986, p. 88, where it is noted that that there are two distinctive types
of robin’s-egg glaze, one with blotches of turquoise and dark blue, and
爐鈞釉雙耳香爐 《大清雍正年製》款 another, like ours, streaked with copper-red.

Regina Krahl in Chinese Ceramics from the Meiyintang Collection, vol. II,
Provenance London, 1994, p. 252, notes that Robin’s egg glaze first appeared during
Acquired by the present owners grandfather in London in the 1960’s the Yongzheng reign, as a re-interpretation of the Song dynasty Jun
(by repute) wares and was an innovation of the Imperial kiln potters. Court records
Label of Bluett & Sons, London to base reveal that censers made to imitate Jun wares had gained an elevated
level of recognition and admiration from the Emperor.
來源
據藏家，其祖父於上世紀六十年代購於倫敦 The form of the present censer may have been inspired by those made
底部標籤Bluett & Sons, 倫敦 in bronze during the Ming dynasty, see A Special Exhibition of Incense
Burners and Perfumers Throughout the Dynasties, National Palace
An identically-shaped robin’s-egg-glazed censer from the Edward T. Museum, Taipei, 1994, pp. 197-198, nos. 52 and 53. It is also possible
Chow Collection was sold at Sotheby’s, Hong Kong, Edward T. Chow that the brown-dressed foot-rim of our censer, in a nod to the archaizing
Collection, Part Three, Ming and Qing Porcelain, 19 May 1981, lot 502, sensibility prevalent at court, is meant to mimic its bronze prototype.

FINE CHINESE PAINTINGS & WORKS OF ART | 141