A rare small ge-type five-lobed bottle vase, Yongzheng six-character seal mark in underglaze blue and of the period (1723-1735)
Lot 826. A rare small ge-type five-lobed bottle vase, Yongzheng six-character seal mark in underglaze blue and of the period (1723-1735); 8 ¼ in. (21 cm.) high. Estimate: USD 80,000 - USD 120,000. © Christie's Images Ltd 2019.
The body potted with five facets separated by indented corners between the neck and the foot ring, and the vase covered all over in a silky greyish-white glaze suffused with a wide network of dark grey crackle.
Provenance: Alice Boney, New York, 1982.
The Irving Collection, no. 713.
Note: Wang Yinxian (1943-2018), a native of Yixing, Jiangsu province, was a preeminent female Yixing pottery artist. She specialized in tea pots in various styles, including plain shapes, those of gourd form, and others of more complex forms, such as the present example, which showcases her extraordinary skills.
A very similar prunus trunk-form teapot made by Wang Yinxian in 1990 was published in Selected Works of Contemporary Yixing Potters, Hong Kong, 1994, no. 3.
Christie's. Lacquer, Jade, Bronze, Ink: The Irving Collection Evening Sale, New York, 20 March 2019