A fine and rare flambé-glazed vase, hu, Seal mark and period of Yongzheng | 清雍正 窰變釉鋪首綬帶耳壺 《雍正年製》款

Christie's Hong Kong, 25th October 1993, lot 805.

Sotheby's Hong Kong, 7th October 2015, lot 3619.

香港佳士得1993年10月25日，編號805

香港蘇富比2015年10月7日，編號3619

While at first glance this vase appears to be a familiar type, finely potted in an elegant archaic bronze-inspired pear-shaped body and covered with a striking glaze in imitation of the celebrated Jun wares, it is unusual to find the mock loop handles suspending tassels. Only one other closely related vase appears to have been published, from the Qing court collection and preserved in Beijing, illustrated in The Complete Collection of Treasures of the Palace Museum. Monochrome Porcelain, Hong Kong, 1999, pl. 181. Yongzheng mark and period vases of this form are also known, usually modelled with tubular handles, see one sold in these rooms, 15th May 1990, lot 75.

A great connoisseur of antique porcelains and with a discerning aesthetic sense for works of art, the Yongzheng Emperor demanded the highest level of craftsmanship in the production of elegant implements for personal use. Various attempts to recreate the Jun glaze had failed in the early years of his reign to the emperor’s great disappointment, until Nian Xiyao, the supervisor of the Imperial kilns, sought a new recipe amongst the elderly craftsmen in Junzhou, Henan province, where it is believed the Jun glaze originated. According to the Palace records, in the 8th year of the Yongzheng reign (1730), the Emperor responded positively for the first time to a group of imitation Jun wares and remarked 'This group is outstanding. Have Nian Xiyao produce a couple more similar pieces' (see The Tsui Museum of Art: Chinese Ceramics IV. Qing Dynasty, Hong Kong, 1991, p. 48). Several 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 creates striking glaze streaks that were so admired by the Qing Emperor.