Un grand vase yen yen à décor de tigre et dragon - Dynastie Qing, époque Kangxi (1662-1722)

de forme balustre avec un haut col évasé, vigoureusement peint en lavis de bleu, rouge sous couverte et céladon vert d'une scène continue d'un dragon en vol à demi caché dans des nuages stylisés, confronté à un tigre sur une falaise rocheuse plantée de pins, les nuages s'étirant à distance dans une vallée paysagée autour du col, la base émaillée blanc avec marque Chenghua (apocryphe) dans un double cercle en bleu sous couverte. 68.6cm, 27 in. Estimé 30,000—40,000 EUR

LITERATURE AND REFERENCES: The Tectus Collection, Chinese Ceramics, Boras, 1991, p. 242, no. 100.

CATALOGUE NOTE: The present vase is rare for its magnificent large size and painterly decoration of a large scaly dragon amongst clouds eagerly watched by a lion with its head held high. This vase is an especially splendid example of the complex decorative technique used and in its colouration, form and size is comparable with a vase from the collection of Dr. Sheldon Baddock, New York, sold twice at Christie's, in London, 9^th July 1979, lot 118, and later in New York, 26^th March 2003, lot 260. The Baddock vase is decorated with a continuous landscape scene of pavilions amongst trees, bamboo and rocks.

For examples of Kangxi vessels decorated with dragons in underglaze-red see a vase of different form painted with two large dragons amongst clouds illustrated in Kangxi Porcelain Wares from the Shanghai Museum Collection, Hong Kong, 1998, pl. 70; and a fishbowl with the design of a dragon leaping out of waves published in Kangxi. Yongzheng. Qianlong. Qing Porcelain from the Palace Museum Collection, Hong Kong, 1989, pl. 26.

Compare also a Kangxi brushpot, in the Palace Museum, Beijing, with the design of figures in landscape decorated in underglaze-blue, red and the rocks covered in celadon-glaze, ibid., pl. 17.

Sotheby's Paris. From Neolithic to Qing, Chinese Ceramics from Two Private Collections from two European collections. 12 Juin 2008