A copper-red-glazed pear-shaped vase (Yuhuchunping), Seal mark and period of Qianlong | 清乾隆 紅釉玉壺春瓶 《大清乾隆年製》款

Sotheby's New York, 19th November 1982, lot 269.

紐約蘇富比1982年11月19日，編號269

This vase is notable for its vibrant copper-red glaze and its even tone which accentuates the graceful curves of its elegant form. A notoriously difficult pigment to fire, the use of copper was largely abandoned after the 15th century as the slightest irregularity in any stage of the production resulted in an undesirable and uneven color. Yet, with the technical advances made at the imperial kilns in Jingdezhen from the early Qing dynasty onwards, by the Qianlong reign, potters were able to accomplish a previously unattained command over the pigment to successfully create a number of monochrome vessels with a strong and even red tone, such as the present vase.

Copper-red vases of this type are held in important museums and private collections worldwide: see one in the Tokyo National Museum, Tokyo, included in the Museum's exhibition Chinese Arts of the Ming and Ch'ing Periods, 1963, cat. no. 440; one in the Nanjing Museum, Nanjing, illustrated in The Official Kiln Porcelain of the Chinese Qing Dynasty, Shanghai, 2003, pl. 346; another sold in these rooms, 17th September 2003, lot 100, later entering the Songzhutang Collection, and sold again in the same rooms, 15th September 2015, lot 85. Further Qianlong copper-red glazed vases of this type include one from the Gordon Collection, sold at Christie's New York, 24th March 2011, lot 1144; and another sold in our London rooms, 17th December 1996, lot 134, and again in our Hong Kong rooms, 3rd October 2017, lot 3654.