A Chinese Copper-Red-Glazed 'Langyao' Vase, Qing Dynasty, Kangxi Period

Rich and lustrously glazed copper-red monochrome porcelains were perfected during the Yongle and Xuande reigns in the Ming dynasty, but the large number of discarded sherds at the Jingdezhen kiln sites highlights the difficulties experienced by even the most highly accomplished imperial potters of that time to achieve satisfactory results. After the Xuande reign, the copper pigment was therefore almost completely abandoned, and monochrome copper-red vessels were only revived on a grand scale about two centuries later under the Qing Kangxi Emperor. 

Also known as sang-de-boeuf (‘ox-blood’), the copper-red langyao glaze was developed under Lang Tingji (1663-1715), supervisor of the imperial kilns at Jingdezhen from 1705-1712, and the term is thought to derive from his name. Under his direction, the imperial potters attempted to recreate the lost formula of the early Ming period. Indeed, the depth, richness, and slight mottling of the glaze on the present vase, together with the thin blurred border of white at the lip and foot, suggest a deliberate recreation of revered Xuande period red monochromes. For a Xuande-era predecessor, compare a bowl in the National Palace Museum, Taipei (accession no. K1B017758N000000000PAD). See also a Yongle period red-glazed meiping excavated from the imperial kilns at Jingdezhen, published in Ming Qing Yuyao Ciqi / The Porcelain of Imperial Kiln in Ming and Qing Dynasties, Beijing, 2016, pl. 111.

The present vase, with its exceptionally fine glaze and baluster shape, is a quintessential example of Kangxi 'Langyao' ware. Related vases are held in important museums and private collections worldwide. Compare two very similar examples in the Palace Museum, Beijing, illustrated in Kangxi, Yongzheng, Qianlong. Qing Porcelain from the Palace Museum Collection, Hong Kong, 1989, pls 116 and 117. Another with a metal mouthrim in the collection of the Nanjing Museum, Nanjing, is shown in Qing Imperial Porcelain of the Kangxi, Yongzheng and Qianlong Reigns, Nanjing and Hong Kong, 1995, cat. no. 1. Compare two vases with more white at the neck: the first in the collection of the National Palace Museum, Taipei, illustrated in the Catalogue of a Special Exhibition of Ch’ing Dynasty Monochrome Porcelains in the National Palace Museum, Taipei, 1981, cat. no. 1; the second in the Palace Museum, Beijing, published in The Complete Collection of Treasures of the Palace Museum: Monochrome Porcelain, vol. 37, Hong Kong, 1999, pl. 15. Compare also a vase published in Chinese Porcelain, The S.C. Ko Tianminlou Collection, Hong Kong, 1987, pl. 121.

For closely related examples sold at auction, see two sold in these rooms: one sold September 11-12, 2012, lot 61, and the other from the collection of Stephen Junkunc, III, sold March 23, 2019, lot 1547. Finally, compare the vase from J.J. Lally, sold recently at Christie's New York, March 23, 2023, lot 900.