Lot 3501. The Grand Empire: The Celadon 'Dragon' Jar. An Extremely Rare and Important Carved Celadon-Glazed ‘Dragon’ Jar, Seal Mark and Period of Qianlong (1736-1795). H 34.6cm. Sold Price HKD 52,800,000 (Estimate Upon Request). © Poly Auction Hong Kong Limited

Provenance: 1. Sotheby's, Hong Kong, 24-25 November 1987, no. 119
2. Hsien Hsiang Private Collection.

Note: The jar has a short lip and short neck, with broad shoulders and a tapering, tapering belly, and a flat footrim. The entire body is covered in a lustrous pinkish-green glaze, the glaze of which is lustrous and crystalline. The artist has carved the body of the vessel with a relief design of a young dragon leaping through the clouds, its body strong and powerful, its claws and teeth sharp, and its ability to command the winds and clouds, set against a backdrop of clouds. The young dragon rises from the sea in the midst of a stormy sea, and the two dragons look at each other with the ardent desire to teach their son. The entire design is beautifully painted with vivid and varied clouds of various shapes and forms, and the artist has been able to convey the border across the river. The two dragons are of a lifelike form, and their relationship with each other is conveyed with a strong sense of affection. The carving and firing of the two dragons are a perfect match, demonstrating the extraordinary beauty of the finest imperial porcelain of the Qianlong era. The base of the jar is signed in six characters and three lines of seal script, Qianlong nian zhi ('Made during the Qianlong period of the Qing dynasty').

The jar is of great size, with an even glaze and superb relief carving, and is decorated throughout with a convex design of a dragon teaching its son, a rare example of monochrome glaze from the Qianlong emperor's reign. A jar very similar to this example was sold at Sotheby's Hong Kong, 8 October 2014, no. 3901, for a high price of HK$94.2 million.

Other pink and blue-glazed relief wares from the old Qing dynasty collection are to be found in a pair of pink and blue-glazed cameo carved 鉢式缸 (鉢式缸) with cloud and dragon motifs, both attributed to the Yongzheng period, although unmarked, in the Palace Museum and the Shanghai Museum, respectively, in The Complete Collection of Cultural Relics in the Palace Museum - Monochrome Glazes, 1999, plate 135. The carving of this jar is similar to that of the previous example, with the potters using delicate carving techniques to delicately overlap the various parts of the shallow relief decoration, highlighting the robustness of the dragons. The dragon's robustness is emphasised by the skillful carving of the various parts of the design. The decoration is sharp and precise, but not obscure under the glaze. The colour on the plain surface, although thinly glazed, is dense and completely unglazed, yet it fills in the recesses delicately, especially the scales on the body of the dragon, which are clearly visible. The carving and firing of the dragon are a perfect match for this skillful production, and the grand royal scene of the Canglong teaching his son comes to life. 

This pink and blue-glazed dragon jar is a testament to the remarkable achievements of Tang Ying, the Qianlong pottery supervisor. Tang Ying, the greatest potter in the history of Chinese ceramics, was appointed to Jingdezhen from the sixth year of the Yongzheng reign to oversee the production of the imperial kilns, leading the development of imperial porcelain techniques to the point of perfection, combining tradition and innovation to bring forth new ideas. Since the Southern Song dynasty, the beauty of the glaze has been a favourite of emperors throughout the ages, but unfortunately it was lost to the Yuan and Ming dynasties. Under the auspices of Tang Ying, the powder blue glaze was successfully resumed during the Yongzheng period, and Jingdezhen inherited the fine tradition of Longquan celadon, firing a variety of different shades of powder blue-glazed porcelain, reaching a level of uniformity and stability of firing during the Yongzheng period. In Tang Ying's Tao Cheng Ji Ji, it is stated that 'there are two different shades of porcelain glazes that imitate Longquan celadon, and two different shades of porcelain glazes that imitate Dongqing'. By the Qianlong period, the technique had become more mature and stable, and the colour was freely controlled, producing a number of varieties, including pink-green, winter-green and bean-green.

The five-clawed dragon with horns is the emblem of the emperor, and the dragon is masculine and brings rain to nourish the peasants. Although dragon motifs often appear in various forms on Chinese decorative art, the 'Canglong teaching his son' on this jar is a lively and dynamic representation of the powerful reign of Emperor Gaozong, and the artistry of the artist is superior to that of his peers.

The dragon motif on this jar dates back to the Kangxi reign, when Liu Yuan (circa 1638-circa 1685) was ordered by the emperor to design a blueprint for imperial porcelain. The porcelain maker has used a perfect combination of carving and one-colour glaze to paint the dragon's face in a delicate manner, demonstrating his skill. The dragon on this example is on a rounded vessel, which requires a more sophisticated and skilled technique than is commonly used on flat bottles. For example, a Qianlong imperial blue and red glaze vase with dragons and clouds, formerly in the collection of the Jingguan Tang and the ten-faced Lingbi Mountain House, Hong Kong, sold to us on 7 October 2019, no. 3324, for HK$56,640,000.

In the Song dynasty, Chen Rong's Ink Dragon Scroll depicts a dragon swimming between ink-playing clouds and the sky, and later in the Qing dynasty, during the Yongzheng reign, it became a traditional pattern at the imperial kilns, with the image of the dragon teaching his son as a metaphor for his fat

In 1773, Emperor Gaozong secretly established a reserve and decided that the throne would be passed on to his fifteenth son, the later Emperor Jiaqing. The question of how to train his successor was naturally one he had to consider, and although he did not disclose his status as imperial reserve, in practice the Qianlong emperor was particularly fond of Diem and had already hinted that he belonged to the reserve, thus teaching and nurturing him. The importance that the Qianlong emperor attached to the act of 'teaching his son' is reflected in the 'discipline' that he later imposed on the Jiaqing emperor after his abdication. In September 1795, when Yan was officially proclaimed Crown Prince, the Qianlong emperor issued an edict to this effect: "After his return to power, how can he ignore all military and administrative matters? The Emperor should still be instructed by himself, and the successor should listen to his instructions with respect, so that in the future he will know what to do and will not make mistakes. After the Qianlong emperor's abdication, the Jiaqing emperor still had to listen to his advice on important matters in the imperial court, so that he would not make mistakes in his administration. This situation continued until the death of the Qianlong Emperor in early 1799.

In the Qing dynasty's Manuscript of the History of the Qing dynasty, the book of the reigning emperor reads: "At the beginning of his training, he was respectful and did not disobey." The Emperor's wishes were always obeyed, and he was undoubtedly the most suitable for his purposes. In 1797, Hongli had already been emperor for two years and had five generations under his belt, so he should have been entertaining himself in the mountains and water, but he was still preoccupied with the imperial government.

The young dragon in the painting is the embodiment of the emperor's fifteenth son, Yün, who is to inherit the throne. The eyes of the dragon also reflect the Emperor's concern for Yan and his thoughts about the future of the Qing dynasty.

Poly Auction Hong Kong Limited. The Grand Empire: The Celadon ‘Dragon’ Jar, Hong Kong, 2 Dec 2021