Sotheby's. Chinese Art from the Metropolitan Museum of Art: The Florence and Herbert Irving Gift, New York, 10 Sep 2019
A large 'Langyao' bottle vase, Qing dynasty, Kangxi period (1662-1722)
Lot 44. A large 'Langyao' bottle vase, Qing dynasty, Kangxi period (1662-1722). Height 16 3/4 in., 42.5 cm. Estimate 30,000 — 50,000 USD. Courtesy Sotheby's.
the globular body rising to a tall attenuated neck, glazed overall in a deep burgundy mottled with crimson, stopping neatly above the straight foot to reveal the buff body, the interior and base glazed white and suffused with a network of fine crackle, wood stand (2).
Collection of Florence (1920-2018) and Herbert (1917-2016) Irving, no. 712.
Note:The term langyao is derived from Lang Tingji, governor of Jiangxi province and supervisor of the imperial kilns from 1705 to 1712. He is known for reviving monochrome glazes, copper-red in particular.
A similar vase was included in the exhibition The World in Monochromes, Oriental Ceramic Society, London, 2009, cat. no. 169. One with a slightly broader neck is illustrated in John Ayers, The Baur Collection, Chinese Ceramics: Monochrome-glazed Porcelains of the Ch'ing Dynasty, vol. III, Geneva, 1972, pl. A 277. See also a slightly shorter example in Wang Qingzheng, Kangxi Porcelain Wares from the Shanghai Museum Collection, Hong Kong, 1998, pl. 210. Similar examples were also sold at Christie's New York, 22nd March 2018, lot 767; 18th September 2014, lot 886; and 19th March 2015, lot 449.