Lot 1313. A pair of unusual copper red-decorated blue and white vases, 18th century; 15¾ and 15 7/8 in. (40 and 40.3 cm.) high. Estimate USD 15,000 - USD 20,000. Price realised USD 1,143,750. © Christie's Images Ltd 2013

Each high-shouldered, tapering body is decorated in copper red and underglaze blue on one side with a scene of a deer and a crane standing beside a pine tree, a blue rock and lingzhi, and on the reverse with a different lengthy poetic inscription in cursive script preceded by an oval seal, Tao Cheng Tang, and followed by two seals reading, Dianheng. 

Note: The text written on one vase is an excerpt from Treaties on Calligraphy (Shu Pu) by the Tang dynasty poet and calligrapher Sun Guoting. The text inscribed on the other vase is an excerpt from Seventeen Posts (Shi Qi Tie) by the Jin dynasty calligrapher Wang Xizhi. Each excerpt is preceded by an oval seal reading Tao Chen tang, a hallmark used by the famous Superintendent of the Imperial Kilns, Tang Ying (1682-1756), and followed by, Maoyuan Wu Yue xi shu (playfully written by Wu Yue of Mao Yuan). A Qing dynasty official named Wu Yue is recorded as having been stationed in Yixing, Jiangsu province from 1755-56.

A vase of similar shape decorated in underglaze blue and red on one side with a branch of peony and a poetic inscription on the reverse, in the Qing Court Collection, is illustrated in The Complete Collection of Treasures of the Palace Museum - Blue and White Porcelain with Underglazed Red (III), Hong Kong, 2000, p. 215, no. 196, where it is dated to the Yongzheng period. The text on the Palace vase is flanked by underglaze-red seals reading, Wu Fu (Hall of Wu), and Tao Cheng zhi bao (treasure of Tao Cheng).