A peachbloom beehive waterpot, taibo zun. Mark and period of Kangxi - Sotheby's
well potted, of classic domed 'taibo zun' form, the rounded sides contracting to a narrow waisted neck below a short lipped mouthrim, incised around the exterior with three medallions formed of the curled bodies of archaistic kuidragons, all beneath a rich crimson-red glaze characteristically mottled with shades of lighter pink and dots of emerald green imitating the skin of a ripening peach, the recessed base and interior left white, the base inscribed in underglaze blue with a six-character reign mark in three lines; 12.3 cm., 5 1/8 in. Estimation: 500,000 - 700,000 HKD. Lot. Vendu 1,360,000 HKD
PROVENANCE: Collection of William B. Jaffe, New York.
Collection of Evelyn Annenberg Hall.
Christie's New York, 29th March 2006, lot 110.
NOTE: Waterpots of this attractive glaze and form are known in important museums and collections around the world, including one in the Palace Museum, Beijing, published in Kangxi. Yongzheng. Qianlong. Qing Porcelain from thePalace Museum Collection, Hong Kong, 1989, p. 142, pl. 125; one in the Shanghai Museum, illustrated in Kangxi Porcelain Wares from the Shanghai Museum Collection, Hong Kong, 1998, pl. 206; another in the Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, included in Suzanne G. Valenstein, A Handbook of Chinese Ceramics, New York, 1989, p. 237; and a fourth example from the Sir Percival David collection and now in the British Museum, London, published in Illustrated Catalogue of Ming and Qing Wares, London, 1989, pl. 580, and also illustrated on the front cover. See also a waterpot of this type from the collections of Edward T. Chow and the British Rail Pension Fund, sold twice in our Hong Kong rooms, 25th November 1980, lot 66, and again, 16th May 1989, lot 61, and now in the Meiyintang collection; and another sold in these rooms, 23rd October 2005, lot 311.
The Tang dynasty poet Li Bai (701-762), known as a notorious drinker, is often depicted leaning against a wine jar of this form, for example, in a porcelain sculpture of the same period which shows the poet seated with closed eyes and a cup in hand, illustrated in Kangxi. Yongzheng. Qianlong. Qing Porcelain from the Palace Museum Collection, op. cit. , p. 106, pl. 89. It is also referred to as a qizhao zun because its shape resembles that of a chicken coop. These
vessels belong to a group of eight ‘peachbloom’ wares for the scholar’s desk, a complete set of which is illustrated in Regina Krahl, Chinese Ceramics from the Meiyintang Collection, vol. 4, London, 2010, p. 328.
Sotheby's. Fine Chinese Ceramics and Works of Art. Hong Kong | 08 avr. 2013 - www.sothebys.com