Lot 3001. A fine and rare celadon-glazed garlic-mouth vase, Seal Mark and Period of Yongzheng  (1723-1735); 30.5 cm., 12 in. Estimate 3,000,000 — 4,000,000 HKD. Lot sold 5,080,000 HKD. Photo: Sotheby's 2013

supported on a slightly splayed foot, the compressed pear-shaped body rising to a tall cylindrical neck encircled by five bow-string bands, all beneath a wide garlic-shaped mouth, applied overall with an even pale celadon glaze, the recessed base inscribed in underglaze blue with a six-character seal mark, the unglazed footrim dressed with a brown wash.

Provenance: Collection of A.W. Bahr (1877-1959).
Sotheby's New York, 7th December 1983, lot 314.
Collection of Mr. and Mrs. Albert Nipon, Gladwyne, Pennsylvania.
Sotheby's Hong Kong, 1st November 1994, lot 112.

Note: This vase, with its elegant subdued form and even luminous glaze, has been inspired by Song Longquan celadon vases and represents the Yongzheng emperor’s admiration for celebrated Chinese ceramics and archaism and his desire to uphold such traditions in a fresh and innovative manner. The range of newly-developed glazes is recorded by Stephen W. Bushell in Oriental Ceramic Art, London, 1981, pp. 195-205, where he translates the official list of the designs and colours produced at the Imperial manufactory in the reign on Yongzheng including a variety of copies of Song glazes ‘copied from the colours of the glazes of ancient pieces sent from the imperial palace’.