A fine and superb flambé-glazed vase, hu, Seal mark and period of Yongzheng | 清雍正 窰變釉壺 《雍正年製》款

A West Coast collection.

Christie's New York, 28th March 1996, lot 387.

美國西岸收藏

紐約佳士得1996年3月28日，編號387

Metal, Wood, Water, Fire and Earth: Gems of Antiquities Collections in Hong Kong, Hong Kong Museum of Art, Hong Kong, 2001-2005, no. WK.C6.

《金木水火土：香港文物收藏精品展》，香港藝術館，香港，2001-2005年，編號WK.C6

Covered in a rich crushed-raspberry glaze with lavender streaks, wares of this type were highly favoured by the Yongzheng Emperor who commissioned copies of Jun wares to be produced at the imperial kilns in Jingdezhen. Also known as yaobian (transmutation glaze), Tang Ying (1682-1756), Superintendent of the imperial kilns at Jingdezhen, recorded that potters were sent to Junzhou, Henan province in the 7th year of the Yongzheng reign (1729) to investigate the recipe for producing Jun glazes. Recent studies on flambé glaze have revealed that this new recipe required the application of a layer of copper-blue glaze with traces of lead, over a layer of red glaze, which when fired created the striking streaks so admired by the Emperor.

A similar vase of this form and size, also covered in a lustrous glaze of rich crushed-raspberry glaze, is illustrated in Wang Qingzheng, ‘Yongzheng Imitations of Guan, Ge, Ru and Jun Wares’, Chinese Ceramics, Selected Articles from Orientations 1982-1998, Hong Kong, 1999, p. 270, fig. 9, where the author distinguishes its glaze from the typical flambé type (pp. 269-270). Only two other examples have ever appeared in auctions: one from the Estate of Bertha Tilly, sold in our New York rooms, 3rd December 1986, lot 260; and another sold at Christie’s Hong Kong, 1st November 2004, lot 1162.

The form of this vase is also inspired by Song wares, which were in turn based on archaic bronze hu vase prototypes, and was produced covered in various glazes during the Yongzheng period. A related Jun imitation vase of this shape and size, but enveloped in a mottled burgundy-red glaze with speckles of sky blue, was sold at Christie’s New York, 29th March 2006, lot 463. See also a deep-blue glazed version in the Palace Museum, Beijing, illustrated in Gugong Bowuyuan cang Qingdai yuyao ciqi [Qing porcelains from the imperial kilns preserved in the. Palace Museum], vol. 1, Beijing, 2005, pl. 122; and a Ru-type vase, sold at Christie’s New York, 15th September 2009, lot 396.

For a Kangxi porcelain prototype of this archaistic hu form, but with perforations to the foot, see a Langyao red-glazed vase from the Qing court collection, now in the Palace Museum, Beijing, inscribed with an imperial poem by the Qianlong Emperor, illustrated in The Complete Collection of Treasures of the Palace Museum. Monochrome Porcelain, Hong Kong, 1999, pl. 14.

窰變釉紅艷攝人，濃紫淡藍細綴其間，乃雍正帝詔命仿燒宋鈞，御窰廠督陶官唐英領導研創始得。近年研究發現窰變釉乃先施一層紅釉，上罩含鉛銅藍釉，燒成效果宛似焰火，釉色濃烈明豔，肌理自然奔放，深得帝王傾愛。

參考一例相類器形、尺寸窰變釉瓶，釉色鮮紅，刊於汪慶正，〈Yongzheng Imitations of Guan, Ge, Ru and Jun Wares〉，《Chinese Ceramics, Selected Articles from Orientations 1982-1998》，香港，1999年，頁270，圖9，作者論及此品釉色異於典型窰變釉（頁269-270）。拍賣會僅見二例，其一出自 Bertha Tilly 舊藏，1986年12月3日售於紐約蘇富比，編號260；另一售於香港佳士得，2004年11月1日，編號1162。

本品器形取材宋例，可溯至高古青銅器形「壺」，雍窰曾以此器形，燒造多款釉色。一件尺寸、造形近似仿鈞瓷，釉色深濃暗紅，間佈細藍斑，2006年3月29日售於紐約佳士得，編號463。北京故宮博物院藏一件霽藍釉壺，載於《故宮博物院藏清代御窰瓷器》，卷1，北京，2005年，圖版122；還有一件仿汝釉壺，售於紐約佳士得，2009年9月15日，編號396。

清宮舊藏一件康熙窰郎窰紅釉壺，可謂此品雛本，現藏北京故宮博物院，銘乾隆皇帝御製詩，錄於《故宮博物院藏文物珍品全集．顏色釉》，香港，1999年，圖版14。