LONDON.- On 11 November 2015, Sotheby’s London will bring to the market an exemplary selection of Chinese furniture and ceramics. Alongside the biannual auction of Important Chinese Art, Sotheby’s will offer the single-owner sale of Classical Chinese Furniture from a European Private Collection. 

Robert Bradlow, Senior Director, Chinese Works of Art, Sotheby’s London, commented: “This season we are delighted with the quality and freshness of the works we have sourced, in particular the exceptional collection of huanghuali furniture which was acquired in the late 1980s and the early 1990s, and has been off the market since. This follows our phenomenally successful recent single-owner sale in Hong Kong of Ming furniture which was 100% sold.” 

Classical Chinese Furniture From A European Private Collection 
Classical Chinese Furniture from a European Private Collection showcases a tastefully selected collection of huanghuali and zitan furniture from the Ming and Qing dynasties. The 26-lot sale offers masterfully carved and constructed furniture, from a stunning bed to various types of impressive tables and cabinets, each revealing the Ming and Qing craftsman’s full repertoire. 

Known for his eclectic and fine taste which ranged from Chinese to South American art, the present owner assembled this group of Ming and Qing furniture in the 1980s and 1990s at a time when pieces were readily available following the Cultural Revolution in China. Each piece was individually acquired with the assistance of Hei Hung-Lu, the renowned collector and dealer of Chinese antiquities based in Hong Kong who began his career in 1948. Hei specialised in classical furniture and would often passionately collect as he dealt. 

Huanghuali furniture has been in popular demand in recent years. As demonstrated in the highly successful Sotheby’s Hong Kong ‘white-glove’ sale, Ming Furniture: The Dr S.Y. Yip Collection, classical Chinese furniture of exceptional quality, rarity and freshness continues to be sought after in today’s market.* In their simplicity of form, excellence of material and ingenious technical craftsmanship, these pieces transcend time.

Monumental in size and stately in design, large cabinets in pairs were the pièce de résistance of room décor. Known as sijiangui (‘four part wardrobes’) or dingxiangligui (‘top cupboards and upright wardrobes’) for their two lower and two upper sections, they were intended to be placed side by side to form an elegant appearance of a double mitre, opposite each other or symmetrically along a wall separated by a door or a small coffer. The attractive curves of the cabriole legs suggest that these cabinets would have been placed symmetrically in a wealthy woman’s apartment rather than side by side, and the decorative carved surfaces heighten the natural beauty of the wood on the broad flat surfaces of the wardrobes. The structure of these cabinets reveals the traditional method of caring for Chinese garments. For centuries garments were fashioned so they could always be easily folded into flat, rectangular piles that were ready to wear. The main vertical creases and faint horizontal creases were not considered unsightly or a detraction from elegance. As seen in this pair, wardrobes with aprons usually contained a hidden compartment whereby a flat piece of wood was laid inside the bottom which could be lifted out and items less frequently used, or accessories, could be stored inside. 

Lot4. A Fine Pair of Huanghuali Square-Corner Cupboards on stands, Ligui, 17th-18th Century. Estimate: £150,000-250,000 / HK$1,800,000-3,000,000 / US$232,000-387,000. Lot Sold £1,445,000 / US$2,192,788. Photo: Sotheby's.

each of rectangular box construction with square corners, the pair of doors set with flush baitong hinges and a lock plate, all above a horizontal cusped panel profusely carved with a pair of long-tailed birds amidst scrolling foliage and an apron carved with chilong and ruyi, the sides and reverse with cusped apron,supported on cabriole legs terminating in hoof feet, the interior with two shelves one containing three drawers - 199 by 125 by 66cm., 78 1/4 by 49 1/4 by 26in.

Provenance: Purchased from Hei Hung-Lu, Hong Kong, late 1980s/early 1990s.

Notes: Pairs of large cabinets such as the present were the piece de resistance of rooms for their monumental size and stately design. Known as sijiangui (‘four part wardrobes’) or dingxiangligui (‘top cupboards and upright wardrobes’) for their two lower and two upper sections, they were created to be placed side by side to form an elegant appearance of a double mitre, opposite each other or symmetrically along a wall separated by a door or a small coffer. The attractive curves of the cabriole legs suggest that these cabinets would have been placed symmetrically in a wealthy woman’s apartment rather than side by side, and the decorative carved surfaces heighten the natural beauty of the wood on the broad flat surfaces of the wardrobes.

The traditional method of caring for Chinese garments is revealed in the structure of cabinets. For centuries garments were fashioned so they could always be easily folded into flat, rectangular piles that were ready to wear. The main vertical creases and faint horizontal creases were not considered unsightly or detract from elegance. As seen in the present cabinet, wardrobes with aprons usually contained a hidden compartment whereby a flat piece of wood was laid inside the bottom which could be lifted out and items less frequently used or accessories could be stored inside.

Compare a huanghuali cabinet of similar size, carved with floral scrolls and mythical creatures on the apron, stretcher and frame, from the Feng Wen Tang collection, sold at Christie’s Hong Kong, 3rd June 2015, lot 2833; and a smaller zitan andhuanghuali example, from the Liang Yi collection, included in the exhibition Splendor of Style. Classical Furniture from the Ming and Qing Dynasties, National Museum of History, Taipei, 1999, cat no. 179.  

A pair of huanghuali dingxiangligui wardrobes, complete with their upper sections, but with plain aprons, straight legs and circular plaque fittings, from the collection of Fredric Mueller, illustrated in R.H. Ellsworth, Chinese Furniture, pl. 130, was sold at Christie’s Hong Kong, 27th November 1991, lot 237; and a single example with cloud-motif handles and hinges was sold in our New York rooms, 28th May 1991, lot 376.

The use of the treasured huanghuali wood and confidently carved motifs on the spandrels and side panels make this table especially rare. Furniture of such high quality was created in the workshops of either Suzhou or Beijing. Such long rectangular tables modelled with recessed legs were commonly placed against a wall in the main hall of family compounds where important male visitors were received and family ceremonies took place. They became representative of their owner’s status and level of refinement. The design, known in Chinese as qiaotouan, refers to the elegrant, smooth and rounded end flanges, and derives from altar tables, zu, that were used to hold meat offerings in the Eastern Zhou dynasty (771-256 BC). By the Ming dynasty (1368-1644) tables of this type were used for a variety of purposes, including the display of treasured antiques or the placement of incense garnitures. 

Lot 8. A Large Huanghuali Solid Top Altar Table, Qiaotouan, 17th-18th Century. Estimate: £150,000-250,000 / HK$1,800,000-3,000,000 / US$232,000-387,000. Lot sold £1,805,000 / US$2,739,088   . Photo: Sotheby's. 

the beaded thick solid top panel with everted flanges, above a straight apron and cusped spandrels carved with notched square scrolls and archaistic dragons, each end with square section legs with out-turned feet joined by a pair of cross braces and flanking an openwork panel of a qilin and a chilong amidst rockwork and ruyi-shaped clouds, the lower brace with a cusped apron - 94 by 284 by 42cm., 37 by 111 3/4 by 16 1/2 in

Provenance: Purchased from Hei Hung-Lu, Hong Kong, late 1980s/early 1990s.

Notes: The use of the treasured huanghuali wood and confidently carved motifs on the spandrels and side panels, make this table special and rare. Furniture of such high quality was created in the workshops of either Suzhou or Beijing. Hu Desheng in A Treasury of Ming and Qing Dynasty Palace Furniture, Beijing, 2008, vol. 1, pp. 38-40, discusses the Suzhou style (Sushi) and the Beijing style (Jingshi), noting that the former was renowned for its beautiful forms, elegant lines, lucid construction, balanced proportions and intricate decoration, while the latter was made mainly by artisans from Guangzhou working in the capital.

Such long rectangular tables modelled with recessed legs were commonly placed against a wall in the main hall of family compounds where important male visitors were received and family ceremonies took place; hence they became representative of their owner’s status and level of refinement. In the Ming dynasty, the scholar Wen Zhenheng (1585-1645) in his Zhangwu zhi jiaozhu [Treaties on superfluous things], refers to them as bi zhuo [wall table] and notes that in elegant examples ‘the end flanges must not be too sharp, but smooth and rounded which is the antique pattern’ (see Craig Clunas,Chinese Furniture, London, 1988, p. 54).

This design, known in Chinese as qiaotouan, derives from altar tables, zu, that were used to hold meat offerings in the Eastern Zhou dynasty (771-256 BC). Rectangular tables with upturned ends are depicted on archaic bronze yi vessels from this period, and a low lacquered table with upturned flanges, unearthed from a tomb in Zhaoxiang, Hubei province, and attributed to the Spring and Autumn period (722-481 BC), is illustrated in Sarah Handler, ‘Side Tables. A Surface for Treasures and the Gods’, Chinese Furniture. Selected Articles from Orientations 1984-1999, Hong Kong, 1999, p. 200. By the Ming dynasty (1368-1644) tables of this type were used for a variety of purposes, as attested by contemporary paintings and woodblock illustrations. In an album leaf by Zhang Hong’s (1577-after 1652), Examining Antiques, a qiaotouan is used for painting and the display of treasured antiques, while a woodblock illustration from the Chongzhen (1628-1644) edition of the novel Jin Ping Mei [The plum in the golden vase], depicts incense garnitures on a table of this type (ibid., figs 14 and 6).

A very similar side table with recessed legs, splayed foot and similarly carved spandrels, from the Florence and Herbert Irving collection and now in the Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, is illustrated in Sarah Handler, Austere Luminosity of Chinese Classical Furniture, Berkley, 2001, pl. 14.16, together with a larger example, pl. 14.17; one was sold in these rooms, 30th October 1987, lot 103; another was sold in our New York rooms, 18th/19th April 1989, lot 528; and a larger example made of tieli wood, in the Palace Museum, Beijing, is illustrated in A Treasury of Ming and Qing Dynasty Palace Furniture, op. cit., pl. 306. Tables of this type are also known with straight feet, such as one sold in our New York rooms, 18th/19th April 1989, lot 485. See also a huanghuali table attributed to the 17th century, in the Philadelphia Museum of Art, Philadelphia, illustrated in Robert Hatfield Ellsworth, Chinese Furniture. Hardwood Examples of the Ming and Early Ch’ing Dynasties, New York, 1996, pl. 56.

 Huanghuali is amongst the most valued hardwood in China, appreciated for its vibrant colour, impressive grain pattern and light sweet fragrance. During the Ming and Qing dynasties it was used for making high quality furniture and craftsmen took full advantage of its distinct qualities to create smooth and plain surfaces that retained much of the material’s natural beauty. The highest quality huanghuali, also known by its Chinese botanical name Hainan jiangxiang huangtan, comes from Hainan and is known for its wide range of colouration from light yellow to purplish-red. By the Qing dynasty, huanghualibecame especially treasured by the imperial court and was frequently used for the production of imperial furniture.

This attractive marble-mounted couch bed (luohanchang) is a striking example of the dual utilitarian and decorative role of furniture of the Qing dynasty. The enigmatic marble panels provide a stunning contrast with the silky lustre of the dark zitan wood, which has been left largely devoid of carving on the legs and base and with only subtle low-relief carving on the interior of the panels in order to draw attention to the quality of the wood. Due to the scarcity of the material, couch beds constructed from zitan are rare, which suggests that this bed would have graced the studio of an important member of the imperial family. Treasured by scholars and popular from the Ming dynasty, marble panels such as these would have provided a means of inspiration for scholars as they gathered and engaged in discourse, calligraphy or painting. Couch beds are characterised by their railings which extend over three sides of the seat, the form of which developed to a subtle stepped shape to echo the form of a throne. Ingenious for its use as a couch during the day and a bed at night, the transformation from one to the other required minimal effort and could be enjoyed alone or in the company of a guest. 

Lot 19. A Rare Zitan Luohan Bed with Marble Panels, Luohanchuang. Qing Dynasty, 18th Century. Estimate: £150,000-250,000 / HK$1,800,000-3,000,000 / US$232,000-387,000. Lot Sold £1,469,000 / US$2,229,208. Photo: Sotheby's.

the mat seat enclosed by the rectangular frame with 'ice-plate' edge supported on a narrow straight waist and straight apron above heavy square-section legs terminating in hoof feet, joined at either end by a humpback stretcher, the back frame divided into three sections, each with inner frame set with a panel of white and black marble, suggestive of swirling clouds and mountainous landscape scenes, the exterior carved with three raised panels, each enclosing archaistic dragons, the abutting side rails similarly set with two marble panels to the front and carved to the exterior, all surmounted by a humpback cresting rail joined by carved and pierced inter-laced dragon roundels to the back and sides - 205 by 118 by 92cm., 80 3/4 by 46 1/2 by 36 1/4 in.

Provenance: Purchased from Hei Hung-Lu, Hong Kong, late 1980s/early 1990s.

Notes: This attractive marble-mounted couch bed (luohanchang) is a striking example of the dual role of furniture of the Qing dynasty: to provide both utilitarian and decorative functions. The enigmatic marble panels provide a stunning contrast with the silky lustre of the dark zitan wood, which has been left largely devoid of carving on the legs and base and with only subtle low-relief carving on the interior of the panels to also draw attention to the quality of the wood. Couch beds constructed from zitan are rare due to the scarcity of the material, which suggests that this bed would have graced the studio of an important member of the imperial family. 

Treasured by scholars and popular from the Ming dynasty, marble panels were first mounted on wooden frames and referred to as ‘stone paintings’. They were predominantly made of stone quarried from Dali in Yunnan province. The natural markings suggest ink landscapes and were thus suitable for adorning scholar’s studios and garden pavilions. Their inclusion in the panels of this couch bed is particularly appropriate, as it would have provided a means of inspiration for scholars as they gathered and engaged in discourse, calligraphy or painting. Compare a mahogany couch bed similarly decorated with eleven marble panel inlays, but the marble mounted to be visible from both sides, from the Qing Court collection and still in Beijing, published in The Complete Collection of Treasures of the Palace Museum. Furniture of the Ming and Qing Dynasties (II), Hong Kong, 2002, pl. 13. The Qing dynasty vogue of embellishing structural frames with marble can also be seen on an album painting, A Life Portrait of Emperor Yongzheng, illustrating the Yongzheng reclining on his marble-panelled bed, published inThe Complete Collection of Treasures of the Palace Museum. Paintings by the Court Artists of the Qing Court, Hong Kong, 1996, pl. 16, p. 108;  and a painting of ladies examining a painting, with a marble bed in the background, from the albumImperial Ladies Enjoying Themselves in 12 Lunar Months, from the Qing Court collection and still in Beijing, published in The Complete Collection of Treasures of the Palace Museum. Genre Paintings of the Ming and Qing Dynasties, Hong Kong, 2008, pl. 47.11. 

Couch beds are characterised by their railings which extend over three sides of the seat, the form of which developed to a subtle stepped shape to echo the form of a throne. Ingenious for its use as a couch during the day and a bed at night, the transformation from one to the other required minimal effort and could be enjoyed alone or in the company of a guest. Playing Double Sixes, a Yuan dynasty woodblock print illustration to Chen Yuanjin’s Compendium of a Forest of Affairs (Shilin guangji), depicts two men seated on a bed of related form while they enjoy a game of double sixes. The design of the bed was perfected in the Ming dynasty (1368-1644) when the structural supports pictured in the print were able to be removed and careful attention was paid to the harmonious arrangement of the panels. 

Wang Shixiang in Connoisseurship of Chinese Furniture. Ming and Early Qing Dynasties, vol. 1, Hong Kong, 1990, pp 77-78, notes that the most common railing on low-back beds is a three-panelled screen form with a large rear panel and smaller side panels; the next popular being the five-screen panel screen, with three panels at the rear and one at each side; followed by the seven-screen type with three panels at the back and two on each side. The seven-screen version, such as the present lot, was rare in the Ming dynasty but increased in popularity by the mid-Qing dynasty. 

Games tables have a long history in China, with early surviving examples used for the divination game liubo dating to the Eastern Han dynasty (25-220). This table is notable for its clarity of form, where the decoration has been confined to the cloud-shaped spandrels and horse-hoof feet to skilfully conceal its ingenious construction. The table top is easily removed to reveal a complex arrangement of game boards set against a boxwood frame, two small compartments for storing game pieces and four small hidden drawers. Practical tables of this type were used for both dining and playing games, and were frequently used by ladies, as depicted in contemporary paintings and woodblock illustrations. 

Lot 12. A Huanghuali Square Games Table, Qizhuo. Qing Dynasty, 18th Century. Estimate: £30,000-50,000 / HK$360,000-600,000 / US$46,400-77,500. Lot Sold £869,000 / US$1,318,708. Photo: Sotheby's.

the square panelled removable top with rounded edge, concealing a rectangular recess for a bone-inlaid shuanglu board and a wire-inlaid folding weiqi and xiangqi board and two circular apertures for gaming counters, the whole supported on a rounded waist above a drawer to each side and raised on round legs joined by humpback stretchers - 87 by 94cm., 34 1/4 by 37in.

Provenance: Purchased from Hei Hung-Lu, Hong Kong, late 1980s/early 1990s.

Notes: The present table is notable for its clarity of form, where the decoration has been confined to the cloud-shaped spandrels and horse-hoof feet to skilfully conceal its ingenious construction. The table top is easily removed to reveal a complex arrangement of game boards set against a boxwood frame, two small compartments for storing game pieces and four small hidden drawers. Tables of this type are very practical as they were used for both dining and playing games. They were frequently depicted in contemporary paintings and woodblock illustrations and often shown used by ladies, as in the painting Fang ting cai hua [Picking flowers by a pavilion] by the painter Yao Wen-han (fl. mid. 18th century), in the National Palace Museum, Taipei, included in the Museum’s exhibition New Visions at the Ch’ing Court. Giuseppe Castiglione and Western-Style Trends, Taipei, 2007, cat. no. 32.

Games tables have a long history in China, with early surviving examples used for the divination game liubo dating to the Eastern Han dynasty (25-220). Tables constructed with weiqi boards, on the other hand, originated in the Tang dynasty (618-906), and their popularity significantly grew during the Song dynasty (960-1279). Sarah Handler in Austere Luminosity of Chinese Classical Furniture, Berkeley, 2001, notes that according to literary sources Emperor Xuanzong (690-705) was very fond of this game and ‘once, when the Precious Consort saw that he was losing, she untied one of her miniature dogs, which promptly jumped onto the board and disarranged the pieces, to the emperor’s delight’ (p. 187).

A similar huanghuali square games table but with S-shaped braces, in the Philadelphia Museum, Philadelphia, is illustrated in Robert Hatfield Ellsworth, Chinese Furniture. Hardwood Examples of the Ming and Early Ch’ing Dynasties, New York, 1971, pl. 73, together with another games table in the Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, pl. 74; a slightly smaller table was sold in our New York rooms, 9th/10th October 1987, lot 398; another was sold at Christie’s Hong Kong, 3rd December 2008, lot 2531; and a rectangular example from the collection of Robert Hatfield Ellsworth was sold at Christie’s New York, 17th March 2015, lot 44. For an earlier version of a games table, see a square-shaped lacquer example attributed to the Ming dynasty (1368-1644), in the Palace Museum, Beijing, illustrated in A Treasury of Ming and Qing Dynasty Furniture, Beijing, 2007, pl. 334.

Huanghuali yokeback armchairs are striking for their simplicity and harmonious form. Called guanmaoyi or ‘official hat-shaped chairs’ – the name deriving from its resemblance to the winged hat that was part of the formal attire of Ming officials – they were regarded as high chairs and retained a connotation of status and authority associated with the elite gentry in Chinese society. Armchairs of this type were made in pairs, suggesting a symmetry that was aimed for in the Chinese room arrangement. Characteristically, they were used at dinner tables, in receptions halls for guests and at writing tables in the scholar’s studio. 

Lot 23. A Pair of Huanghuali Yokeback Armchairs, Guanmaoyi. 17th-18th Century. Estimate: £30,000-50,000 / HK$360,000-600,000 / US$46,400-77,500. Lot Sold £761,000 / US$1,154,818. Photo: Sotheby's.

each with rounded toprail and backward projecting ends supported on round slender stiles and extending down to the back legs, the S-curved backsplat framing three panels, the top with openwork beaded ruyi, the middle inset with greyish-white marble suggestive of swirling clouds and misty landscapes, and the bottom section with beaded opening, the curved arms projecting beyond the front posts set back from the corners of the rectangular frame enclosing the mat seat, all above plain beaded apron and spandrels to the front and side, the legs joined by stretchers and a footrest with apron. Quantity: 2 - 114 by 58.5 by 46cm., 44 3/4 by 23 by 18 1/8 in.

Provenance: Purchased from Hei Hung-Lu, Hong Kong, late 1980s/early 1990s.

Notes: Huanghuali yokeback armchairs of this type are striking for their simplicity and harmonious form. They are calledguanmaoyi or ‘official hat-shaped chairs’, the name deriving from its resemblance to the winged hat that was part of the formal attire of Ming officials. They were regarded as high chairs and retained a connotation of status and authority associated with the elite gentry in Chinese society. The classical text Lu Ban jing [Classic of Lu Ban], a 15th century carpenter’s manual, describes the joinery of these chairs as the embodiment of Chinese furniture construction. 

Craig Clunas in Chinese Furniture, London, 1988, notes that armchairs of this type were made in pairs, suggesting a symmetry that was aimed for in the Chinese room arrangement (see p. 20). Ming (1368-1644) and Qing period woodblock illustrations characteristically show them used at dinner tables, in receptions halls for guests and at writing tables in the scholar’s studio. For example, see a woodblock print from the 1616 edition of the novel Jin Ping Mei [The plum in the golden vase], showing the main male character and his wife seated on guanmaoyi dining while his secondary wives and concubines are seated on stools (ibid., p. 20). 

Chairs of this type inset with marble panels on the splat are unusual although a similar yoke-back armchair from the Tseng Riddell collection was included in the exhibition Splendor of Style. Classical Furniture from the Ming and Qing Dynasties, National Museum of History, Taipei, 1999, p. 83; a pair inset on the splat with two marble panels is illustrated in Robert Hatfield Ellsworth, One Hundred Examples from the Mimi and Raymond Hung Collection, New York, 1996, pl. 11; and two armchairs were sold in our New York rooms, the first, 16th November 1991, lot 463, and the second, 3rd June 1992, lot 340.

Important Chinese Art 
Scholar’s taste characterises this season’s sale of Important Chinese Art, which features all categories of celebrated Chinese art. Highlights include a stunning Jun narcissus bowl from the early Ming dynasty, imperial porcelain, jade and works of art together with a private collection of scholar’s objects. The auction also comprises paintings, furniture and archaic bronzes, highlighting the breadth of artistry in China from the Neolithic age to the 20th century. 

A Rare ‘Jun’ Narcissus Bowl. Early Ming Dynasty. Estimate: £300,000-400,000 / HK$3,600,000-4,790,000 / US$464,000-620,000. Photo: Sotheby's.

This Jun narcissus bowl represents one of the most significant and interesting groups of ceramics ever made for the imperial court of China. Jun ware derives its beauty from the striking and thick opaque glaze of varied bright blue colouration. 'Numbered Jun' wares, the product of ceramic production in Junzhou Prefecture, Henan province, comprise a small group of flower pots which were inscribed on the underside before firing with a Chinese numeral ranging from one (the largest) to ten (the smallest). 

Numbered si (four) and dating to the early Ming dynasty, Jun vessels of this type are rare, held only in important museums and private collections. 

cf. my post of October 10, 2015: http://www.alaintruong.com/archives/2015/10/19/32800546.html

A Rare Copper-Red ‘Dragon and Phoenix’ Vase. Qing Dynasty, Qianlong Period. Estimate: £80,000-120,000 / HK$960,000-1,440,000 / US$124,000-186,000. Photo: Sotheby's.

This vase was inspired in form by bronze prototypes of the Han Dynasty (206 BC – AD 220). It is superbly painted with the ultimate auspicious symbol of power, the five-clawed dragon, and his consort, the phoenix, denoting Emperor and Empress. Made during the reign of the Qianlong Emperor (1736-1795), one of the greatest patrons of the arts, the vase is of excellent imperial quality and extremely rare. While imperial porcelain is often inscribed with marks of the reigning emperors, court records reveal instances where Qing emperors decreed reign marks not to be used. The vase is a remarkable example of the outstanding aesthetic and technological accomplishments of Chinese potters. The underglaze copper-red required extreme precision in the firing process to achieve the brilliance of the colour. No other vase identical in form and decoration appears to be recorded.  

the compressed spherical body rising from a straight foot to a tall cylindrical neck, finely painted with a lively writhing dragon and flying phoenix, their eyes picked out in underglaze blue, amidst a continuous meandering peony scroll - 33cm., 13in. 

Provenance: Sotheby's Hong Kong, 27th/28th April 1993, lot 114. 

Notes: The vase is modelled in an elegant form inspired by bronze prototypes of the Han dynasty (206 BC- AD 220), and superbly painted with the ultimate auspicious symbol of power, the five-clawed dragon, and his consort, the phoenix, denoting Emperor and Empress. The underglaze copper-red required extremely precise control of the firing process to achieve the brilliant attractive colour. Made during the reign of the Qianlong Emperor (1736-1795), one of the greatest patrons of the arts, the vase is of excellent Imperial quality and extremely rare, and is a remarkable example of the outstanding aesthetic and technological accomplishments of Chinese potters. While imperial porcelains are often inscribed with marks of the reigning emperors, court records demonstrate that there are cases where Qing emperors decreed reign marks not to be used on their porcelains, for example see Feng Xianming, Annotated Collection of Historical Documents on Ancient Chinese Ceramics, Taipei, 2000, p. 241.

The vase is also remarkable in that the pupils of the dragon and phoenix are clearly picked out in contrasting underglaze blue instead of red, which is rare on porcelains of this type. This remarkably highlights the soaring spirits of the mythical creatures, and evokes a household legend in China related to the famous painter Zhang Sengyou (active c. 490-540). According to this story, Zhang Sengyou painted four dragons on the walls of a temple in Nanjing, Jiangsu, without marking their pupils.  By adding the essential finishing touch of their pupils, he got two of them immediately to fly to heaven, while the other two without pupils remained on the wall.

Dragon and phoenix are among the earliest symbolic motifs from antiquity which continue to have resonance until today. These motifs of rank, importance and auspiciousness were formalised in the Yuan period (1279-1368) when three-clawed (princely), and five-clawed (Imperial) dragons were used to decorate jade and porcelain, before the male and female Imperial beasts were conjoined in symbolic Imperial union in the early Ming (1368-1644). At the Qing court (1644-1911), the combination of dragon and phoenix was particularly popular in the Kangxi period (1662-1722) famille-verte ware, including Kangxi-marked dishes and bowls in the collection of the Palace Museums in Beijing and Taipei, which depict striding five-clawed dragons and fanciful phoenix amidst flowers.

While dragon and phoenix were highly favoured motifs and were frequently used on porcelains with various glazes and decorations, it is very rare to see them depicted in underglaze copper-red like on the present vase. This is not surprising, because successful firing of underglaze copper red requires extremely precise control of the firing temperature and the atmosphere (i.e., reducing or oxidising) inside the kiln. According to a court record of 1738 about a porcelain meiping('prunus vase') with dragon design in underglaze red, the Qianlong Emperor deemed the colouring of the copper red not good enough and demanded a better red colour, see Feng Xianming, ibid, p. 232. The excellent red colour of the present piece is a credit to the kiln master responsible for its successful firing.

No other example of identical form and decoration as the present vase appears to be recorded, although its shape and design are closely related to many imperial porcelains of the Qing court. For an underglaze-red vase of Qianlong mark and period decorated with a similar dragon, but red-eyed, amongst clouds and bats, and of related shape but with more flattened body and flaring mouth rim, see the catalogue to the exhibition La Splendeur Du Feu: Chefs-D'oeuvre de la Porcelaine Chinoise de Jingdezhen du XII au XVIII Siecle, Centre Culturel de Chine a Paris, Paris, 2004, cat. no. 31. The dragon of the present vase is also very similar to two red-eyed dragons amongst clouds on an underglaze-red yuhuchun ('spring in jade bottle') vase of Qianlong mark and period, sold twice in our Hong Kong rooms, 3rd May 1994, lot 194, and 30th October 2002, lot 292, illustrated in Sotheby's Thirty Years in Hong Kong, Hong Kong, 2003, pl. 295, and sold again at Christies Hong Kong, 27th May 2009, lot 1831. Compare also two 18th-century underglaze red meiping with double phoenix and peony motif, one sold in these rooms, 10th November 2010, lot 84, and the other sold at Christies Hong Kong, 1st June 2011, lot 3925.

The form of the vase was inspired by bronze prototypes, for example see a Han dynasty engraved bronze vase, hu, of similar shape in the Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, illustrated for comparison with a Southern Song dynasty (1127-1279)guan ware octagonal vase of related form sold in our Hong Kong rooms, 7th April 2015, lot 1. The bronze shape started to appear on ceramics during the Song (960-1279) and continued, with modifications, into the Qing dynasty when it became very popular on Qing imperial porcelain. For two Qianlong-marked vases of similar form but shorter height, one with Ru-type crackle glaze and the other with guan-type glaze, included in the exhibition Qing Imperial Monochromes in the Zande Lou Collection, Art Museum of The Chinese University of Hong Kong, Hong Kong, 2005, cat. nos. 28 and 33. Also compare a Southern Song guan ware vase of related form, but with a thicker neck and more flattened body, sold in these rooms 13th May 2015, lot 32.

For an example of early Ming porcelain with the dragon-and-phoenix motif, see a blue-and-white brush washer of Xuande mark and period (1426-1435) in the National Palace Museum, Taiwan, of ten-lobed mallow shape with a dragon and a phoenix on the inside and ten dragon-and-phoenix medallions on the outside, included in the Museum's Mingdai Xuande guanyao jinghua tezhan tulu/Catalogue of the Special Exhibition of Selected Hsüan-te Imperial Porcelains of the Ming Dynasty, Taipei, 1998, no. 182. For examples of the dragon-and-phoenix motif in overglaze enamels, see a dish and a bowl of Kangxi mark and period, both in famille verte, illustrated in Porcelains in Polychrome and Contrasting Colours, The Complete Collection of Treasures of the Palace Museum, Hong Kong, 1999, pls. 133 and 135.

A Large and Finely Enamelled Famille-Rose ‘Immortals’ Vase. Qing Dynasty, 18th Century. Estimate: £60,000-80,000 / HK$720,000-960,000 / US$93,000-124,000. Photo: Sotheby's.

This rare vase is impressive for its magnificent size and sumptuous decoration, and the meticulous preparation invested in its overall composition. On one side is a scene of the Immortal's Paradise, and on the other, scholars in a garden engaged in leisurely pursuits.

Cf. my post of October 24th, 2015: http://www.alaintruong.com/archives/2015/10/24/32826553.html