Christie's. Fine Chinese Ceramics and Works of Art, London, 13 May 2014
Monochrome porcelains from the Collection of Professor E. T. Hall at Christie's London, 13 May 2014
Professor Edward ‘Teddy’ Hall was a man who obviously enjoyed combining art and science, as evidenced by his directorship of the Research laboratory for Archaeology and the History of Art at Oxford, and his important collection of clocks (sold at Christies London 11 July 2003). This was a combination of interests that he was able to pursue in his remarkable collection of Chinese ceramics. His passion was primarily for monochrome porcelains of the Ming and Qing dynasties. He built up one of the finest private collections of these beautiful wares. The pieces were shown to stunning effect in his home near Oxford, where visitors were dazzled by the brilliant spectrum of colours displayed in cases located in the hall, drawing room and sitting room. The collection encompassed a huge range of forms and colours, including groups of particularly rare and prized types.
Lot 405. A celadon-glazed 'bamboo' brush pot, Kangxi period (1662-1722); 5 ½ in. (14 cm.) high. Estimate GBP 8,000 - GBP 12,000. Price realised GBP 11,250. © Christie's Image Ltd 2014.
The cylindrical brush pot is finely potted with widely ribbed sides and is decorated to the exterior with bamboo sprays highlighted in paler areas of celadon and brownish tones.
Provenance: The E T Hall Collection, London, no. 389.
Lot 406. A carved white glazed water pot, Kangxi six-character mark in underglaze blue and of the period (1662-1722); 2 ? in. (7.3 cm.) high. Estimate GBP 12,000 - GBP 18,000. Price realised GBP 68,500. © Christie's Image Ltd 2014.
The water pot is of tall columnar form with the gently incurving sides, finely carved to depict billowing clouds of ruyi-form rising from the base in trailing formations.
Provenance: The E T Hall Collection, London, no. 124.
Note: A similar water pot, possibly the one offered here, was included in the Oriental Ceramic Society Exhibition, The Arts of the Ch'ing Dynasty, London, 1964, cat. no. 305, illustrated, pl. 101 and again in The Chinese Scholar's Desk, 17th to 18th Century, at the Ashmolean Museum, Oxford, 1979, cat. no. 14.
A similar example in the Shanghai Museum is illustrated in Kangxi Porcelain Wares from the Shanghai Museum Collection, Hong Kong, 1998, no. 227, p. 342.
A celadon-glazed version from the Jingguantang Collection was sold in Christies Hong Kong, 3 November 1996, lot 565.
Lot 407. A clair-de-lune-glazed water pot, taibozun, 18th century; 4 ? in. (12.3 cm.) wide. Estimate GBP 6,000 - GBP 8,000. Price realised GBP 7,500. © Christie's Image Ltd 2014.
The water pot is of 'beehive' shape with a short waisted neck. decorated to the body with three incised dragon roundels under a light-blue glaze stopping neatly around the base.
Provenance: The E T Hall Collection, London, no. 81.
Literature: The Chinese Scholar's Desk, 17th to 18th Century, Oxford, 1979, p. 5, no. 15.
Exhibited: The Chinese Scholars Desk, 17th to 18th Century, Oriental Ceramic Society Exhibition, Oxford, 1979, no. 15.
Lot 408. A Ge-type lobed tripod washer, Qianlong six-character seal mark in underglaze blue and of the period (1736-1795); 9 in. (22.8 cm.) wide. Estimate GBP 20,000 - GBP 30,000. Price realised GBP 86,500. © Christie's Image Ltd 2014.
The washer is finely potted and modelled after a Song prototype with a broad flat base supported on three globular feet, rising to steep bracket-lobed sides with a slightly everted rim. The washer is covered in a grey glaze with a web of fine 'iron-wire' crackles. The underside of the base has sixteen spur marks.
Provenance: The E T Hall Collection, London, no. 265.
Note: Sometimes called 'bulb bowls', these tripod vessels were based on Song prototypes, such as the brushwashers in the Palace Museum, Taipei, included in the Exhibition of Sung Dynasty Kuan Ware, 1989, nos. 135-143.
A ge-type tripod vessel of this mallow blossom form, also with a Qianlong seal mark, was included in the exhibItion, Important Ceramics from the Robert Chang Collection, Christie's London, 2-14 June 1993, no. 62.
Lot 410. A Ru-type tripod censer of 'fish basket' form, Qianlong six-character seal mark in underglaze blue and of the period (1736-1795); 7 ? in. (20 cm.) wide. Estimate GBP 30,000 - GBP 50,000. Price realised GBP 56,250. © Christie's Image Ltd 2014.
The censer is of compressed form supported by three short feet below a band of twelve bosses. The waisted neck rises to a flaring mouth flanked by two lug-handles to the shoulder, and is covered all over with an attractive crackled greyish-blue glaze stopping at the tip of the feet.
Provenance: The E T Hall Collection, London, no. 78.
Note: A censer of this rare 'fish basket' shape with a Qianlong mark, but covered in a robin's egg glaze, is illustrated in Catalogue of a Special Exhibition of Ch'ing Dynasty Monochrome Porcelains in the National Palace Museum, Taipei, 1992, p. 93, no. 52. Another described as having a guan-type glaze is illustrated in The Complete Collection of Treasures of the Palace Museum: Monochrome Porcelain (Beijing), Hong Kong, 1999, p. 231, pl. 209.