A fine and rare archaistic carved celadon-glazed handled vase, Seal mark and period of Qianlong | 清乾隆　粉青釉仿古龍紋鳩首銜環耳尊　《大清乾隆年製》款

拍品描述

Property from an old Hong Kong family collection 香港家族舊藏 wood stand 19.6 cm This vase belongs to a small and rare group of vessels produced during the Yongzheng and Qianlong reigns. Comparable examples include a vase formerly in the W. W. Winkworth and Robert Chang collections, sold at auction on several occasions, most recently at Christie’s Hong Kong, 27th May 2008, lot 1590; a pale lavender-glazed vase from the Warre Collection, included in the International Exhibition of Chinese Art, London, 1935, cat. no. 228; and a white-glazed example in the Metropolitan Museum of Art, acc. no. 14.40.141. Another similar celadon-glazed vase from the earlier Yongzheng reign is preserved in the Taipei Palace Museum, acc. no. zhongci-325 (fig. 1). A further Yongzheng example in the Beijing Palace Museum is illustrated in Kangxi, Yongzheng, Qianlong: Qing Porcelain from the Palace Museum Collection, Hong Kong, 1989, pl. 105. The present vase is an archaistic interpretation in the refined idiom of the High Qing period. Its form, with two stylised animal heads supporting rings at the sides, and its surface decoration evoke the shapes and ornament of some of China’s earliest bronze ritual vessels, produced during the Zhou dynasty. Used in court and ancestral ceremonies, these archaic bronzes served as an enduring source of inspiration, their forms and designs repeatedly reinterpreted in porcelain and other media throughout the imperial era.

图片