A small doucai'birds and flowers' meiping. Mark and period of Yongzheng - Sotheby's
of baluster form, delicately potted with a constricted waist and high shoulders sweeping up to a short waisted neck, supported on a high footring, finely enameled around the body in washes of underglaze blue, shades of green, iron red, aubergine, yellow and black enamels with two ribbon-tailed birds, one perched on a branch of apricot blossoms, the other on a large taihu rock, further surrounded by sprays of bamboos, iron red and yellow roses, and a sprig of day lilies extending toward the reverse, the slightly pointed base inscribed in underglaze bue with a six-character reign mark within double circles; 9.5 cm., 3 3/4 in. Estimation: 800,000 - 1,200,000 HKD - Lot. Vendu 1,720,000 HKD
PROVENANCE: Sotheby's Hong Kong, 29th November 1976, lot 505.
NOTE: Miniature vessels of this type were much appreciated by the Yongzheng Emperor who had a penchant for unassuming elegant wares of traditional form and simple design inspired by Chinese ink painting. This vase may be after slightly earlier, Kangxi period, doucai meiping, although of larger dimensions but delicately painted with songbirds perched on blossoming branches, such as the piece sold in our London rooms, 24th October 1994, lot 145.
For examples of other Yongzheng miniature vessels see a double-gourd form doucai vase, in the Palace Museum, Beijing, illustrated in Yeh Pei-Lang, Gems of the Doucai, Taipei, 1993, pl. 93, decorated in a similar painterly style with grape vines and a small squirrel inspired by Ming dynasty designs; and another globular bottle vase, ibid., pl. 98, from the Chang Foundation, Taipei.
Sotheby's. Fine Chinese Ceramics and Works of Art. Hong Kong | 08 avr. 2013 - www.sothebys.com