Lot 22. A rare underglaze-blue and copper-red 'dragon' baluster bottle vase, Yongzheng-Qianlong period (1723-1795). Estimate HK$ 250,000 - 400,000 (€30,000 - 48,000). © Bonhams 2001-2016
Vividly painted in a powerful tone of copper-red with a five-clawed scaly dragon writhing sinuously and ferociously in pursuit of the flaming pearl of wisdom amidst fire scrolls and turbulent crashing waves in underglaze-blue. 35.2cm (13 7/8in) high.
Provenance: A European private collection
Sotheby's London, 15 December 1970, lot 105
An English private collection, and thence by descent.
Notes: The present vase displays precise control of the underglaze copper-red during the firing resulting in a highly successful example, superbly contrasted against the underglaze-blue.
The design is inspired by early Ming dynasty blue and white tianqiuping painted with a single three-clawed dragon amidst fire and cloud scrolls; for a Xuande mark and period example, see Bai Wenyuan, ed., Tianjin Museum, Tianjin, 2012, no.209. The early Ming dynasty example was emulated during the Yongzheng reign in copper-red and underglaze-blue, with a similarly painted three-clawed kui dragon; see an example, Yongzheng seal mark and of the period, from the Qing Court Collection, illustrated in The Complete Collection of Treasures of the Palace Museum: Blue and White Porcelain with Underglaze Red (III), Shanghai, 2010, pl.197. The Yongzheng design was in turn further transformed during the Qianlong reign, with a more ferocious dragon amidst ruyi shaped clouds above crashing waves, as can be seen in a Qianlong seal mark and of the period example, from the Qing Court Collection, illustrated in ibid., pl.210. The present vase combines in a smaller tianqiuping form the earlier style, painted with an overall design of crashing waves, with the Qianlong style dragon.
Compare a related copper-red and underglaze-blue 'nine-dragon' vase, meiping, Yongzheng/Qianlong, which was sold at Sotheby's Hong Kong on 11 April 2008, lot 2923.
Bonhams. FINE CHINESE CERAMICS AND WORKS OF ART, 2016-11-29, 14:00 HKT - HONG KONG, ADMIRALTY