Kangxi Marked Qing Dynasty Blue and White Large Prunus Vase with Five-Clawed Dragon and Auspicious Cloud Motifs

拍品描述

Dimensions：Overall height 39 cm (15.4 in), mouth diameter 7 cm (2.8 in), 17th-18th Century CECondition & Provenance：This vase is fully intact with no cracks, chips, glaze flaking or restored touch-ups. The clay and glaze bond tightly, and cobalt blue pigment maintains pure, stable tone. The sea wave and ruyi cloud border around the neck stays crisp and complete, the dragon and cloud motifs on the main body retain full clarity. Only faint natural wear marks appear on the unglazed foot ring from centuries of display, with no artificial grinding or later overpainting. The six-character regular script reign mark “Da Qing Kang Xi Nian Zhi” painted in blue-and-white at the base remains legible with steady deep cobalt hue. Classified as Ming and Qing porcelain, this piece was exported to North America decades ago and is currently preserved in a private Asian antique collection owned by a veteran collector based in Los Angeles, California, USA. It comes with original vintage auction labels, multi-generational provenance records and official professional antique ceramic appraisal document.Description：This Kangxi-marked blue-and-white large prunus vase with five-clawed dragon ranks as a landmark large imperial display porcelain from Kangxi official kilns. Prunus vases were core vessels for royal wine storage and grand hall decoration throughout Chinese dynasties, while five-clawed dragon patterns were exclusively reserved for imperial use, representing supreme royal rank. The vase boasts perfectly standardized imperial proportions: compact small mouth, short constricted neck, full rounded shoulders, a broad body gently tapering toward the base and a slightly flared foot ring. The overall silhouette stands tall and full with balanced flowing outlines, fully embodying the bold, grand aesthetic style of early Qing Dynasty porcelain. The entire vessel is covered with smooth glossy pale celadon-white glaze, decorated with vivid bright cobalt blue patterns. It adopts the iconic Kangxi color grading technique known as “fen shui”, creating rich layered shades with seamless light-to-dark transitions for three-dimensional visual texture. A border of rolling sea waves and ruyi cloud heads wraps around the neck, rendered with meticulous orderly fine lines. The central body features a powerful five-clawed dragon winding through sprawling auspicious clouds. The dragon holds a fierce lifted head with flowing whiskers, neatly arranged fine scales and sharp sturdy claws, surrounded by freely shaped scattered ruyi clouds that deliver strong dynamic vitality. A band of surging sea cliff waves decorates the lower body near the foot, echoing the neck border from top to bottom to form a full, magnificent balanced composition. The foot ring is neatly trimmed with dense solid clay, the outer unglazed rim showing pale aged off-white clay, and the bright clean white base glaze hosts the six-character reign mark with authentic archaic regular script brushwork typical of Kangxi imperial wares. Kangxi blue-and-white porcelain is celebrated worldwide for its layered wash technique and realistic dragon painting, and large intact dragon prunus vases are extremely rare survivors due to difficult high-temperature firing conditions. Dragon imagery symbolizes imperial authority and auspicious prosperity in traditional Chinese culture. This oversized cloud-dragon vase integrates masterful clay shaping, multi-layer cobalt painting and exclusive royal dragon iconography, serving as vital physical evidence for researching Jingdezhen imperial kiln craftsmanship and imperial decorative ritual systems of early Qing China. Displayed alone, it delivers solemn elegant visual presence, carrying outstanding academic research value, artistic ornamental value and reliable long-term appreciation potential. Collectors specializing in high-grade Ming and Qing imperial porcelain across California, New York and other North American art hubs consistently compete fiercely for museum-quality pieces like this, making it a top highlight lot for premium private collections and major auctions.

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