An underglaze-blue and copper-red double-gourd 'Immortals' wine ewer, warmer and cover, Qing dynasty, 18th-early 19th century
Lot 521. An underglaze-blue and copper-red double-gourd 'Immortals' wine ewer, warmer and cover, Qing dynasty, 18th century-early 19th century. Estimate 40,000 — 60,000 USD. Lot sold 37,500 USD. Photo: Sotheby's.
the pear-shaped ewer set to one side with a curved spout and to the other with a loop handle, with a deep cylindrical container and extending from the base, surmounted by a slightly domed cover with a bud finial, all supported on a globular warmer set with a pair of lion-mask handles, the vessels painted with the Eight Daoist Immortals against a dense ground of turbulent waves painted in copper-red, with bats and scattered clouds painted to the lower body, handle, spout and cover of the ewer, the base of the warmer with a four-character hallmark reading Qingyi Tang zhi (Hall of Blessings and Correctness) within a double square in underglaze blue (3). Height 7 3/8 in., 18.8 cm
Note: The hallmark, Qingyi tang zhi, refers to the 'Hall of Blessings and Correctness', and is associated with porcelains produced during the Yongzheng to Jiaqing periods. A millefleurs famille-rose bowl inscribed with the same hallmark, is illustrated in The Complete Collection of Treasures of the Palace Museum. Porcelains with Cloisonné Enamel Decoration and Famille Rose Decoration, Hong Kong, 1999, pl. 184, where it is attributed to the Jiaqing period.
Compare a wine warmer of similar form and decoration in the Metropolitan Museum of Art, inscribed with a Yongzheng mark, illustrated by Warren E. Cox, The Book of Pottery and Porcelain, vol. II, New York, 1949, pl. 164, fig. 872. Another, in the Royal Ontario Museum, is inscribed with a Caihua tang zhi (Hall of Brilliant Splendor) mark, accession number 911.8.60A-C. A third example, inscribed with a Yanghe tang zhi (Hall for Cultivating Harmony), in the collection of Seikadō Bunko Art Museum in Tokyo, is illustrated in Seikadō zō Shinchō tōji. Keitokuchin kanyō no bi [Qing dynasty porcelain collected in the Seikado. Beauty of Jingdezhen imperial kilns], Seikado Bunko Art Museum, Tokyo, 2006, cat. no. 41.
Sotheby's. Important Chinese Art New York, 15 Mar 2017