AN EXCEPTIONALLY RARE PAIR OF COPPER-RED RELIEF-MOLDED 'CHILONG' BOTTLE VASES KANGXI MARKS AND PERIOD |

each finely potted with an ovoid body and a rounded shoulder rising to a tall cylindrical neck flaring slightly to a lipped rim, the shoulder and neck encircled by a relief-molded striding three-clawed chilong, decorated with a copper-red 'peachbloom' glaze, the recessed base with a six-character mark in underglaze blue (2)

Collection of George. R. Davies (1843-1918). 
Edgar Ezekiel Gorer, London and New York.  
Collection of William H. Whitridge (d. 1939). 
Parke-Bernet Galleries, New York, 16th April 1939, lot 534.
Collection of Stephen Junkunc, III (d. 1978).  

Catalogue of the Collection of Old Chinese Porcelains formed by George R. Davies, Purchased by Gorer and Exhibited at Dreicer & Co., NY, New York, 1913, cat. no. 124.
The Whitridge Collection of Chinese Pottery and Porcelain, Baltimore Museum of Art, Baltimore, 1930, cat. no. 287.
Art Institute of Chicago, Chicago, 1951

One vase with an approx. 4.5-cm rim crack; the exterior of the rim with a shallow infilled chip with an associated T-shaped hairline crack at the interior; a small shallow infilled chip to the interior; the restoration old and discolored to yellow; and a lean to the neck. The other vase with three stained hairline rim cracks, the longest approx. 1.5-cm.
In response to your inquiry, we are pleased to provide you with a general report of the condition of the property described above. Since we are not professional conservators or restorers, we urge you to consult with a restorer or conservator of your choice who will be better able to provide a detailed, professional report. Prospective buyers should inspect each lot to satisfy themselves as to condition and must understand that any statement made by Sotheby's is merely a subjective qualified opinion.
NOTWITHSTANDING THIS REPORT OR ANY DISCUSSIONS CONCERNING CONDITION OF A LOT, ALL LOTS ARE OFFERED AND SOLD "AS IS" IN ACCORDANCE WITH THE CONDITIONS OF SALE PRINTED IN THE CATALOGUE.

Porcelain vases decorated with relief-molded dragons from the Kangxi period are extremely rare and rarer still is the present pair, of which no other example appears to be published. Vessels of this type were produced as a variation of the ‘chrysanthemum’ vase which formed one of the eight prescribed vessels for the scholar’s table, one of the most iconic groups of porcelain created under the Kangxi emperor. These vases are unusual for their white body and chilong which have been colored in the peachbloom glaze that was typically reserved for these eight prescribed vessels. Compare a related Kangxi mark and period vase, but potted with a straight cylindrical neck, the body washed with peachbloom glaze and the chilong rendered green, in the Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, published in Suzanne G. Valenstein, A Handbook of Chinese Ceramics, New York, 1989, p. 237, no. 232; and another, from the Tsui Museum of Art, Hong Kong, illustrated in The Tsui Museum of Art, Hong Kong, 1991, pl. 123, together with five further vessels, this set of six later sold at Christie’s Hong Kong, 3rd November 1996, lot 557. Two similar vases, with an apocryphal mark of Chenghua, the white body applied with an aubergine-glazed archaistic dragon, were sold in our London rooms, one from the Aykroyd collection, 17th May 1966, lot 222, and the second, 14th April 1970, lot 150.

Kangxi mark and period vases of related form were also produced with a similarly rendered chilong painted to the shoulder in copper red; see a pair, from the Richard Bennet and J. Insley Blair Collections, sold at Christie’s Hong Kong, 28th November 2012, lots 2116 and 2117. 

The use of coiling dragons modeled in high relief around the necks and shoulders of vases was already well known by the Tang dynasty (618-907) and continued to be popular in the Song dynasty in both bronze and ceramics, such as Longquan celadon and qingbai. Preference for the motif intensified in the late Ming dynasty, particularly at the Dehua kilns, as well as being produced in cloisonné enamel and bronze wares. By recreating them in porcelain and covering them in a peachbloom glaze that was pioneered in the Kangxi period, they possess a sense of modernity while celebrating traditions of the past.

For bronze versions of this vase see two cast with narrow necks and garlic mouths and applied with models of dragons, attributed to the 16th/17th century due to their resemblance with Dehua counterparts of this type, in the Victoria and Albert Museum, London, illustrated in Rose Kerr, Later Chinese Bronzes, London, 1990, pl 29; and a bronze vase of pear form, the cylindrical neck decorated with a dragon in relief chasing a pearl, attributed to the Qing dynasty, published in Philip K. Hu, Later Chinese Bronzes. The Saint Louis Art Museum and Robert E. Kresko Collections, St Louis, 2008, pl. 29.