A rare white-glazed relief-carved vase, meiping, Qing dynasty, Qianlong period (1736-1795)

12 avril 2008

A rare white-glazed relief-carved vase, meiping, Qing dynasty, Qianlong period (1736-1795)

Lot 2507. A rare white-glazed relief-carved vase, meiping, Qing dynasty, Qianlong period (1736-1795), 33cm., 13in. Estimate 2,000,000 — 3,000,000 HKD. Lot sold 2,407,500 HKD. Photo: Sotheby's.

the elegant baluster body surmounted by a short fluted neck with petal-shaped rim, the sides decorated in crisp relief, the detailing knife-pared and incised, with four archaistic bat motifs hung with fruiting boughs of peach and long tassels bearing emblems tied with fruiting ribbons, divided by shou characters above and bats below, the splayed base encircled by a band of upright lappets and the shoulders with a collar of overlapping ruyi heads beneath a frieze of stiff leaves extending up the neck, covered inside and out with a lustrous glaze of creamy tone.

Provenance: Collection of Edward T. Chow.
Sotheby's Hong Kong, 19th May 1981, lot 518.

Exhibited: Zhongguo mingtao riben xunhui zhan, Nihonbashi Takashimaya, Tokyo, 1992, pp. 222-223.

Literature: The Leshantang Collection of Chinese Porcelain, Taipei, 2005, cat.no. 42.

Note: It is rare to find soft-paste vases of this exceptional quality and with such crisply relief-carved surface decoration. Qianlong period vessels of this type are referred to as 'imitating Ding ware' (fang Ding yao) after the deep opaque white glaze associated with the much celebrated 'Ding' wares of the Song dynasty. See a Qianlong vase of this type with a moulded floral decoration, from the Qing Court collection and still in Beijing, illustrated in The Complete Collection of Treasures of the Palace Museum. Monochrome Porcelain, Hong Kong, 1999, pl. 239, together with an incense burner, pl. 240, and a large stem-plate with deeply carved floral scroll motif, pl. 241.

See also a pair of Qianlong mark and period bottle-form soft-paste vases with carved flowers sold in these rooms, 8th April 2007, lot 725; and another vase with floral decoration from the J.M. Hu collection, sold in our New York rooms, 4th June 1985, lot 32. A related vase carved with dragons, from the Alfred E. Hippisley collection, was sold at Anderson Galleries, New York, 30th January 1925, lot 248.

Sotheby's. A Tradition of Elegance The Leshantang Collection, Hong Kong, 11 Apr 2008