Lot description
A FINE AND VERY RARE BLUE AND WHITE GARLIC-MOUTH 'FLOWERS' VASE MARK AND PERIOD OF YONGZHENG measurements note 27.6 cm., 10 7/8 in. the pear-shaped body painted in bold underglaze-blue tones with a broad composite floral band, enclosing peony, chrysanthemum and camellia blooms borne on leafy scrolling stems, between ruyi-head and key-fret bands at the shoulder and a lotus-lappet band at the lower body, the elegant waisted neck moulded with a raised band below upright plantain leaves, the garlic-bulb-shaped mouth encircled by a composite floral meander below a key-fret band, all supported on a tall spreading foot encircled with a band of vigorously rolling and foaming waves, the base with an encircled six-character mark Quantity: 1 PROVENANCE Sotheby's Hong Kong, 2nd November 1994, lot 145. NOTE It is extremely rare to find a vase of this form with a Yongzheng reign mark and painted with a flower scroll design. For the inspiration see a Ming garlic-mouth bottle vase decorated with lotus scrolls in borders separated by bands of rings, also with a splayed foot, illustrated in R.L. Hobson, The George Eumorfopoulos Collection Catalogue of the Chinese, Corean and Persian Pottery and Porcelain, vol. 4, London, 1927, cat.no. D25. Wares reproducing Ming designs were highly favoured by the Yongzheng emperor and from the Jiangxi tongzhi (General Description of the Province of Jiangxi) compiled by Xie Min, governor of Jiangxi province in 1732, it is evident that a large number of Ming porcelain reproductions were commissioned by the palace to be made at the imperial kilns at Jingdezhen. One closely related Yongzheng vase is illustrated in Oriental Ceramic Society of Hong Kong Bulletin, no. 3, 1977-78, p. 52, fig. 37, of the same form and painted with a very similar flower scroll, but with flame-filled lappets and a floral band replacing the upright leaves and keyfret on the neck of the present vase. See also another vase of this shape sold in these rooms, 29th November 1978, lot 234, also with a Yongzheng reign mark and of the period, but painted with the classic design of detached sprays of fruit and flowers. The Qianlong emperor appears to have favoured this type of vase as a number of examples are known with Qianlong reign mark. See one in the Tianminlou collection included in the Chang Foundation exhibition Blue and White Porcelain from the Tianminlou Collection, Taipei, 1992, cat.no. 86, painted with three flowering and three fruiting branches above lotus petal panels rising from the base and breaking waves encircling the slightly splayed foot. Another Qianlong vase from the T.Y. Chao collection was sold in these rooms, 18th November 1986, lot 82; and one in the National Palace Museum, Taipei, is illustrated in Blue and White of the Ch'ing Dynasty, vol. II, Hong Kong, 1968, pl. 5.
