Lot 3012. A fine peachbloom-glazed beehive waterpot, taibai zun, Kangxi six-character mark in underglaze blue and of the period (1672-1722), 4 15/16 in. (12.5 cm.) diam., box. Estimate HKD 800,000 - HKD 1,200,000 (USD 103,192 - USD 154,788) © Christie’s Images Limited 2017.

The rounded sides rising to a short, slightly flaring neck, incised with three archaistic dragon roundels beneath a glaze of even, crushed strawberry tone suffused with mottled areas of copper-green, the rim, interior and base white. 

Provenance: Sold at Christie’s New York, 6 June 1985, lot 441
A private collection, Milan, Italy
Property from a European Collection
Sold at Christie’s Hong Kong, 30 November 2011, lot 2924 

Note: Waterpots of this form are known as Taibai zun, after the Tang dynasty poet Li Bai who was also named Li Taibai (701-762). In later imageries Li Bai, a renowned drinker of wine, is often depicted leaning against a large wine vat of this shape. The vessel's shape is also known as jichao zun because their shape resembles that of a basketwork chicken coop that is woven with a small opening at the top through which the chicks are fed.

Peachbloom-glazed vessels were highly treasured by the Kangxi Emperor, and were primarily fired as small-sized scholar's objects for the Emperor's table. Beehive water pots belong to a group of peachbloom-glazed vessels for the scholar's table known as Badama, 'Eight Great Numbers'. This group was previously thought to comprise a total of eight differing shapes. John Ayers identified a possible ninth form of the Badama by pointing out the existence of two slightly different globular water pots. The first is termed as a pingguo zun, 'apple jar' modelled with a gently inward curving mouth rim; and the other with a raised, low, neck (similar to a stalk) that maybe referred to as a Shiliu, or 'pomegranate jar'. See, J. Ayers, 'The 'Peachbloom Wares of the Kangxi Period (1662-1722), Transactions of the Oriental Ceramic Society, vol. 64, 1999-2000, p. 49.  

The firing of peachbloom-glazed wares involved a complex procedure which required colourants to be blown onto a surface covered with transparent glaze, which was then applied with an additional layer of transparent glaze before being fired in high temperature. 

Similar peachbloom-glazed waterpots are found in various museums and collections worldwide, including one in the Percival David Foundation of Chinese Art, illustrated in Earth, Fire and Water: Chinese Ceramic Technology, London, 1996, no. 24, p. 34; one in the Baur Collection, Catalogue, vol. III, Geneva, 1999, nos. A305, A310 and A313-A316; a full set of the eight vessels in the Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, illustrated by S.G. Valenstein, A Handbook of Chinese Ceramics, New York, 1989, p. 237, pl. 236; and one in the British Museum, Oriental Ceramics, The World's Great Collections, vol. 5, Tokyo, 1981, no. 230.  

Compare also to a similar waterpot of the same size, from the J. Insley Blair Collection and sold at Christie's Hong Kong, 28 November 2012, lot 2112; and one from the YC Chen Collection, sold at 29 May 2013, lot 1904.

A peachbloom-glazed beehive waterpot, Kangxi six-character mark and of the period (1672-1722) from the J. Insley Blair Collection. Price realised HKD 1,940,000 (USD 251,540) at Christie's Hong Kong, 28 November 2012, lot 2112. © Christie’s Images Limited 2013.

A fine peachbloom-glazed beehive waterpot, Kangxi six-character mark and of the period (1672-1722)from the YC Chen Collection. Price realised HKD 2,310,000 (USD 298,969) at Christie's Hong Kong, 29 May 2013, lot 1904. © Christie’s Images Limited 2013.

Christie's. The Imperial Sale / Important Chinese Ceramics and Works of Art, 31 May 2017, Convention Hall, Hong Kong