A flambé-glazed handled vase, Seal mark and period of Qianlong | 清乾隆 窰變釉雙耳瓶 《大清乾隆年製》款

A flambé-glazed vase of this type is preserved in the Capital Museum, Beijing, illustrated in Xiong Liao, Beauty of Ceramics. Gems of the Official Kilns, Taipei, 1993, pl. 147. See an example from the Marie Theresa L. Virata collection, sold at Christie's New York, 16th March 2017, lot 614; another from the Hosokawa collection, sold in these rooms, 8th October 2014, lot 3111; a third sold three times by Sotheby's, first in our London rooms, 17th December 1980, lot 659, then in these rooms, 2nd May 2000, lot 560, from the Hall Family collection, and again in our London rooms, 12th July 2006, lot 150; and a further example from the collection of Henry G. Marquand, sold in our New York rooms, 21st March 2018, lot 538.

Flambé glazes derive from the Jun wares, a glaze that was first revived during the Yongzheng period and remained popular throughout the Qing dynasty. For a Yongzheng prototype of this vase, see one sold at Christie’s Hong Kong, 21st September 2004, lot 316.