Lot 3210. A Rare Yellow-Ground Underglaze-Blue ‘Ram’ Vase, Zun, Yongzheng Period (1723-1735). H 32.5cm. Estimate HKD 5,800,000 - 8,000,000 (USD 743,590 - 1,025,641). Sold Price: HKD 7,200,000 (USD 923,077). Copyright 2021 © Poly Auction Hong Kong Limited

This vase is potted with a gently compressed globular body rising from a splayed foot to a tall waisted neck and the upper shoulder is decorated with three ram heads. The lower neck is encircled by a raised double-fillet band, repeated at the central and lower body. The exterior is decorated with six bands of pattern which are all painted in deep shades of cobalt blue creating a 'heaping and piling' effect. The bulbous center section is finely painted with a wide band of undulating leafy lotus on top of a band of floral blossoms, all between a collar of pendent ruyi lappets and a band of stylized lotus petals. The mouth is encircled with a band of sea waves while there is a band of classic scroll around the foot. The ground is further nicely enameled with bright yellow enamel, giving a very strong contrast of color. The base is inscribed with a six-character reign mark in underglaze blue within a double circle.

Provenance: A Kyoto family collection.

Note: Vases of this design appear to have been introduced in the Yongzheng period. A line drawing of this form is included among Yongzheng shapes in Geng Baochang, Ming Qing ciqi jianding [Appraisal of Ming and Qing porcelain], Hong Kong, 1993, p. 235, fig. 401:"13", where it is called sanxizun ('vase of three beasts'), referring to the kind of animals used in ritual offerings.

The ram is a traditional emblem of good luck, since the Chinese term for ram (or goat), yang, is a homophone of yang, 'sun', and represents the male or positive principle in the yin-yang duality. The Chinese character for ram is also used as a variant for a similar character pronounced xiang, which means happiness. Three rams, san yang, are considered a particularly auspicious symbol, evoking the expression san yang kai tai, the awakening of nature in spring, which signifies good luck and happiness.

Vases of this form were commonly decorated in monochromes, ie. Tea-dust, Ru or Guan type glazes. See a similar tea-dust glazed 'three rams' vase of Qianlong mark and period sold three times in Sotheby’s Hong Kong:"28"th November 1979 lot 317, 18 November 1986, lot 99, from the collection of T.Y. Chao, and 29 April 1992, lot 89, and once in Sotheby’s New York, 27 November 1990, lot 34, from the collection of Ira and Nancy Roger, illustrated in Sotheby's. Thirty Years in Hong Kong, Hong Kong, 2003, pl. 157; and another, sold in Sotheby’s Hong Kong, 5 October 2016, lot 3656.
Also compare two Ru-type glazed examples in the National Palace Museum, Taipei: one from the Yongzheng period, included in the Illustrated Catalogue of Ch'ing Dynasty Porcelain in the National Palace Museum: K'ang-hsi Ware and Yung-cheng Ware, Tokyo, 1980, pl. 129; and the other from the Qianlong period, illustrated in the Museum's exhibition catalogue Qingdai danseyou ciqi/Special Exhibition of Ch'ing Dynasty Monochrome Porcelains in the National Palace Museum, Taipei, 1989, cat. no. 88. Another Qianlong example with a guan-type glaze in the Walters Art Gallery, Baltimore, is published in S.W. Bushell, Oriental Ceramic Art, London, 1981 (1896), col. pl. LXXVII.