AN EXCEEDINGLY RARE CLAIR DE LUNE-GLAZED FLOWER HOLDER, QIANLONG MARK AND PERIOD

拍品描述

AN EXCEEDINGLY RARE CLAIR DE LUNE-GLAZED FLOWER HOLDER, QIANLONG MARK AND PERIOD Delicately potted, of compressed pear-shaped form, raised from a short ring foot to a waisted neck flaring to an everted neck. The slightly domed top has three circular apertures. Covered overall in an even sky-blue glaze, save for the base. The recessed base with an underglaze-blue six-character seal mark da Qing Qianlong nianzhi and of the period. Dimensions: Height 7 cm, Diameter 8.7 cm The present lot belongs to a rare group of Imperial Qianlong porcelain flower vases, known in contemporary court records as huanang (花囊) and variously described in modern catalogues as flower vases, holders, or receptacles, defined by their distinctive form. Unlike a conventional vase, the openings allowed individual stems to be separated and held at controlled angles, producing a restrained arrangement in which the placement of each flower could be carefully considered. The British Museum has suggested that vessels of this type may also have been used to hold feathers. While they are known in several glazes, each one is extremely rare with only a small handful of examples preserved today, suggesting they were made in a highly limited series. No example in a clair-de-lune glaze like the present lot appears to have yet been published in private or public collections. The development of the form is unusually well documented in the Qing Imperial workshop records. An entry dating to the fourth month of the seventh year of Yongzheng, corresponding to 1729, records that the official Haiwang brought out an ancient bronze flower receptacle for inspection. The Yongzheng Emperor ordered that a turned wooden model be made after it, but directed that the hard edge of the upper dish be softened and three holes opened through its surface. When the wooden model was subsequently presented, he requested that the edge be made rounder and the inner cavity enlarged. Nian Xiyao was then instructed to have several porcelain examples fired in different glazes. The record identifies an ancient bronze huanang as the immediate prototype and also explains why the porcelain design appears from the outset in a range of monochrome treatments. Among the earliest surviving porcelain versions is the Yongzheng-marked celadon-glazed flower holder formerly in the collection of Sir Percival David and now in the British Museum, registration number PDF,B.578 (fig. 1). Its squat proportions, narrow neck and three pierced openings correspond closely to the model described in the court records. A white or ivory-glazed example of comparable form is also recorded, while a Yongzheng-marked robin’s-egg-blue example remains in the Qing Court collection and is illustrated in The Complete Collection of Treasures of the Palace Museum, Monochrome Porcelain, vol. 37, Hong Kong, 1999, no. 187 (fig. 2). These surviving pieces confirm that the instruction to reproduce the design in different glazes was carried out and that the form was treated as a small-scale vehicle for monochrome experimentation. The inspiration for the shape of these vessels may have been small glazed pottery vessels of earlier Tang dynasty date. A Tang sancai-glazed vessel in the Palace Museum, Beijing, accession number 新00122204 (fig. 3), provides a useful comparison. Such an antiquarian reference would have been entirely in keeping with the tastes of the Yongzheng Emperor and, subsequently, the Qianlong Emperor, both of whom were discerning admirers and collectors of ancient Chinese art. Their patronage encouraged the imperial kilns not merely to reproduce earlier forms and glazes, but to reinterpret them with exceptional technical refinement. Many Qing monochrome glazes were developed in conscious dialog with celebrated ceramics of the past, particularly those of the Song dynasty. Surviving court and workshop records further demonstrate the emperors’ exacting supervision of imperial production, with models, proportions, glaze colours and even minor details repeatedly adjusted until the desired result had been achieved. During the Qianlong reign, the compact three-aperture model was retained but given a wider decorative range. A carved celadon-glazed example from the Wang Xing Lou collection is finely worked with lotus scrolls and a band of stylised petals, while an aubergine-glazed example from the same collection relies on the contrast between its simple form and deep purple glaze. Both are illustrated by Robert Jacobsen, Ye Peilan, and Julian Thompson in Imperial Perfection: The Palace Porcelain of Three Chinese Emperors: Kangxi, Yongzheng, Qianlong, Hong Kong, 2004, p. 196, no. 74, and p. 240, no. 95, respectively, and were subsequently sold at Christie’s Hong Kong, 30 May 2022, lots 2715 and 2714 (figs. 4 and 5). The aubergine example was described by Christie’s as the only flower holder in that particular glaze then recorded. Further variations on this theme include blue and white examples, such as one sold at Sotheby’s Paris, 16 June 2022, lot 204 (fig. 6); and vases with five apertures instead of three, including a crackled sky-blue glazed flower holder in the National Palace Museum, Taipei, object number 中瓷005002N000000000 (fig. 7). Taken together, the monochrome, carved, and underglaze-blue versions demonstrate the sustained interest of the imperial kilns in this distinctive design. Their exceptional rarity, however, indicates that they were produced only in very limited numbers for the court. Each surviving example, including the present lot, is distinguished by impeccable potting, carefully judged proportions, and consummate glaze and decoration, qualities that would have made these flower holders highly prized at the Qing court from the time of their creation. Auction result comparison: Type: Closely related Auction: Sotheby’s Hong Kong, 3 April 2012, lot 7 Price: HKD 3,140,000 or approx. EUR 500,000 converted and adjusted for inflation at the time of writing Expert remark: Compare the closely related form and reign mark. Note the different glaze and carved decoration.

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