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Lot Essay
The present vase has a very rare form, not many pear-shaped vases are as deeply compressed with the centre of gravity so far down the lower body as in the present example. Firing a vase of this form successfully would have been extremely difficult with a high probability of the body sagging or leaning to one side, which may explain why extremely few other vases of this form appear to be published. The closest comparable example of this elegant form but decorated with a celadon glaze from the collections of J. M. Hu Family and Robert Chang, was sold at Christie’s Hong Kong, 2 November 1999, lot 518 (fig. 1).
The Robin’s-egg glaze was a monochrome glaze first invented in the Yongzheng reign. One of the most notable features of this type of glaze is the variation of the mottling that can be achieved. The present vase is half way between the typical peacock-feather glazes as exemplified by the Qianlong moonflask from the Robert Chang Collection, sold at Christie’s Hong Kong, 28 November 2006, lot 1305; and the streaked glazes such as the cong-form vase in the Qing Court Collection, illustrated in The Complete Collection of Treasures of the Palace Museum - Monochrome Porcelain, Hong Kong, 1999, p. 209, no. 188. Compare with two Yongzheng garlic-head vases covered with similar glazes, one is in the National Palace Museum, Taipei, accession number: zhongci-000749, the other from the J.M. Hu Collection, sold at Christie’s Hong Kong, 29 November 2017, lot 2856 (fig. 2).
Two related Yongzheng examples of this compressed form are in the Palace Museum, Beijing, all with a lipped mouth and several bow-strings decorating the long cylindrical neck in flambé, see Qingdai Yuyao Ciqi, juan 1, Beijing, 2005, p. 289, no. 130, and p. 297, no. 134.
The Robin’s-egg glaze was a monochrome glaze first invented in the Yongzheng reign. One of the most notable features of this type of glaze is the variation of the mottling that can be achieved. The present vase is half way between the typical peacock-feather glazes as exemplified by the Qianlong moonflask from the Robert Chang Collection, sold at Christie’s Hong Kong, 28 November 2006, lot 1305; and the streaked glazes such as the cong-form vase in the Qing Court Collection, illustrated in The Complete Collection of Treasures of the Palace Museum - Monochrome Porcelain, Hong Kong, 1999, p. 209, no. 188. Compare with two Yongzheng garlic-head vases covered with similar glazes, one is in the National Palace Museum, Taipei, accession number: zhongci-000749, the other from the J.M. Hu Collection, sold at Christie’s Hong Kong, 29 November 2017, lot 2856 (fig. 2).
Two related Yongzheng examples of this compressed form are in the Palace Museum, Beijing, all with a lipped mouth and several bow-strings decorating the long cylindrical neck in flambé, see Qingdai Yuyao Ciqi, juan 1, Beijing, 2005, p. 289, no. 130, and p. 297, no. 134.