Sotheby's. Important Chinese Art, Hong Kong, 03 oct. 2018
A blue and white 'Phoenix' mallet vase, mark and period of Kangxi (1662-1722)
Lot 3666. A blue and white 'Phoenix' mallet vase, mark and period of Kangxi (1662-1722); 18.7 cm, 7 3/8 in. Estimate 800,000 — 1,200,000 HKD. Lot Sold 1,000,000 HKD (127,560 USD). Courtesy Sotheby's.
the bell-shaped body rising to a tall tubular neck with a slightly lipped rim, painted on both sides with a highly stylised kui phoenix design, its head on the neck of the vase dissolving into abstract blue scrolls draping over the shoulders, the base inscribed with a six-character reign mark written in three columns.
Note: A vase of this design in the Palace Museum, Beijing, is illustrated in Geng Baochang, ed., Gugong Bowuyuan cang Qingdai yuyao ciqi [Porcelains from the Qing dynasty imperial kilns in the Palace Museum collection], Beijing, 2005, vol. 1, part 1, pl. 47, together with a Yongzheng version, part 2, pl. 40; another Kangxi vase in the National Museum of China, Beijing, is published in Zhongguo Guojia Bowuguan guancang wenwu yanjiu congshu/Studies on the Collections of the National Museum of China. Ciqi juan [Porcelain section], Qingdai [Qing dynasty], Shanghai, 2007, pl. 2.
The design was also executed in underglaze copper red; for an example in the Shanghai Museum see Zhongguo taoci quanji [Complete series on Chinese ceramics], Shanghai, 1999-2000, vol. 14, pl. 24; and for one in Taipei, Gugong Qing ci tulu. Kangxi yao, Yongzheng yao/Illustrated Catalogue of Ch'ing Dynasty Porcelain in the National Palace Museum, Republic of China. K'ang-hsi Ware and Yung-cheng Ware, Tokyo, 1980, pl. 21.