A large and rare teadust-glazed vase, Incised seal mark and period of Yongzheng. Estimate 150,000 — 200,000  HKD. Unsold. Photo courtesy Sotheby's

of archaistic hu form, supported on a splayed foot with a slightly galleried rim, the body tapering to a tall neck flanked by a pair of animal mask loop handles, the bulging body with a wide raised horizontal band, evenly interrupted on four sides with a vertical one, each intersection with a further raised square panel, all above a thin raised fillet, the neck similarly collared with two thin raised ribs enclosing two vertical raised fillets, the rim encircled with a further raised band, the exterior and the upper section of the interior covered in a deep olive-green glaze, the base incised with a six-character seal mark; 47.5 cm., 18 5/8  in.

Notes: The form and design of this vase is based on archaic bronze hu produced during the late Shang (c. 1600-1050 BC) and Western Zhou (c. 1050-771 BC) period; see for example one excavated in Shandong, illustrated in Wenwu, 1972, no. 5, pl. 6. fig. 2. Ritual bronzes appear to have been a major source of inspiration for vessels created at the Imperial kilns in Jingdezhen under the directorship of Tang Ying (1682-1752). The difficulties involved in simulating bronze are discussed by Tang on a stone tablet entitled ‘Orders and Memoranda on Porcelain’, excavated in Jingdezhen in 1915 (see Soame Jenyns,Later Chinese Porcelain, London, 1951, p. 60).

Another Yongzheng mark and period vase of this form and design, but with animal-head handles, in the Palace Museum, Beijing, is illustrated in Kangxi, Yongzheng, Qianlong. Qing Porcelain from the Palace Museum Collection, Hong Kong, 1989, pl. 127; another with loop handles, from the T.Y. Chao collection, was sold twice in these rooms, 29th November 1979, lot 321, and, 19th May 1987, lot 295; and a slightly larger vase, moulded with mock ring handles, was sold in these rooms, 29th October 2001, lot 585.

Vases of this form, with Yongzheng marks and of the period, are also known covered in various monochrome glazes; see a Ru-type vase, illustrated in The Tsui Museum of Art. Chinese Ceramics. Qing Dynasty, vol. IV, Hong Kong, 1995, pl. 21, and sold in these rooms, 25th April 2004, lot 261; another of larger size, sold in these rooms, 9th November 1982, lot 227; and a smaller ge-type vase, in the Palace Museum, Beijing, published op. cit., pl. 89.

Sotheby's. Important Chinese Works of Art, Hong Kong, 07 avr. 2015