Lot 2911. A fine and exceptionally rare celadon-glazed rectangular jardinière, Yongzheng six-character seal mark in underglaze blue and of the period (1723-1735); 14 5⁄8 in. (37.3 cm.) long. Price realised HKD 16,450,000 (Estimate HKD 3,000,000 - HKD 5,000,000). © Christie's 2021

The jardinière is superbly potted with flared sides rising to a rounded mouth rim, moulded on the exterior with a wide raised band to the mid-section and another raised band above the six bracket feet. It is covered overall in an even pale sea-green glaze, with the reign mark inscribed on the centre of the underside base.

Provenance: The J.M. Hu (1911-1995), Zande Lou Collection.

Literature: Helen D. Ling and Edward T. Chow, Collection of Chinese Ceramics from the Pavilion of Ephemeral Attainment, vol. III, Hong Kong, 1950, pl. 122.

Exhibited: Shanghai Museum, Beijing Museum, Art Museum, The Chinese University of Hong Kong, Qing Imperial Monochromes. The Zande Lou Collection, 2005, Catalogue, pp. 60-61, no. 13.

Note: The present jardinière is one of the finest jardinières and celadon-glazed vessels made during the Yongzheng period, in fact, no other identical jardinière of this design and glaze colour appears to have been published.

Large-sized rectangular jardinières of this type were used for artistically arranged plants at the palaces. A painting by the Qianlong-period court painter Jin Tingbiao shows a similar monochrome rectangular jardinière holding narcissus plants grown among scholar’s rocks (fig. 2); illustrated in The Enchanting Splendor of Vases and Planters: A Special Exhibition of Flower Vessels from Ming and Qing Dynasties, Taipei, 2014, p. 63. For another similar Yongzheng monochrome rectangular jardinière, see a robin’s egg-glazed example in the National Palace Museum, Taipei, illustrated ibid., no. I-16. (fig. 3)

fig. 2 A painting by the Qianlong-period court painter Jin Tingbiao, Collection of the National Palace Museum, Taipei.

fig. 3 A robin’s egg-glazed jardinière, Yongzheng period, Collection of the National Palace Museum, Taipei

Christie's. Important Chinese Ceramics and Works of Art, Hong Kong, 3 december 2021