Canalblog
Editer l'article Suivre ce blog Administration + Créer mon blog
Alain.R.Truong
Alain.R.Truong
Visiteurs
Depuis la création 51 153 151
Archives
Newsletter
Alain.R.Truong
3 décembre 2017

An exceptionally fine and rare pair of doucai ‘lotus’ small lobed vases, Yongzheng marks and period (1723-1735)

An exceptionally fine and rare pair of doucai ‘lotus’ small lobed vases, Yongzheng six-character marks in underglaze blue and of the period (1723-1735)

1

2

Lot 2909. An exceptionally fine and rare pair of doucai lotus’ small lobed vases, Yongzheng six-character marks in underglaze blue and of the period (1723-1735); 4 in. (10.2 cm.) high. Estimate HKD 8,000,000 - HKD 12,000,000Price realised HKD 9,700,000© Christie's Images Ltd 2017

Each vase is delicately potted with six gently lobed sides, supported on a short foot rising to a long straight neck. The body is decorated with alternating lotus blooms and ruyi-heads borne on a scroll, between two smaller bands of lotus scroll. The neck is decorated with a frieze of linked ruyi-heads, below a band of classic scroll around the mouth, wood stands, box; together with a copy of A.W. Bahr, Old Chinese Porcelain & Works of Art in China, London, 1911.

ProvenanceCollection of Li Chi Bai of Guangzhou, acquired prior to 1908

LiteratureA.W. Bahr, Old Chinese Porcelain & Works of Art in China, London, 1911, pl. LXXX

ExhibitedExhibition held at Shanghai in November, 1908, under the auspices of the North-China branch of the Royal Asiatic Society.

NoteThese exceptionally fine vases are very rare and only a few other examples are known. A pair, formerly in the T.Y. Chao Collection, was sold at Sotheby’s Hong Kong, 19 May 1987, lots 298 and 299. A single one, formerly in the E.T. Chow Collection, was sold at Sotheby’s Hong Kong, 25 November 1980, lot 134; another was sold at Sotheby’s Hong Kong, 13 November 1990, lot 133; and one was sold at Christie’s Hong Kong, 31 October 1994, lot 618.

Small delicate vases of this type were displayed in the palace as receptacles for flowers, possibly on a scholar’s desk. Collected in the Palace Museum is a portrait depicting the Qianlong Emperor dressed in Han attire in a scholar’s studio, together with a monochrome lobed vase of related form to the current pair, containing flowers and placed on a stand on the table. This portrait is illustrated in the front cover of Tushuo Qinggong ciqi dang an – wenfang juan, Beijing, 2016. Compare also to another type of small doucai vase also with a lobed body and long neck, decorated with the ‘Three Friends of Winter’ motif, such as the one in the National Palace Museum, illustrated in Special Exhibition of K’ang-hsi, Yung-cheng and Ch’ien-lung Porcelain Ware of the Ch’ing Dynasty, Taipei, 1986, pl. 46; and another one in the Nanjing Museum, illustrated in Treasures in the Royalty: The Official Kiln Porcelain of the Chinese Qing Dynasty, Shanghai, 2003, p. 142. 

The present vases also have illustrious provenance. Formerly in the collection of Li Chi Bai of Guangzhou, they were included in the Royal Asiatic Society exhibition in Shanghai in 1908, published by A.W. Bahr in 1911, and had not been recorded elsewhere until now. 

Christie's. Important Chinese Ceramics and Works of Art, 29 November 2017, Hong Kong

Commentaires