A rare Ru-type meiping, Seal mark and period of Yongzheng | 清雍正 仿汝釉梅瓶 《大清雍正年製》款

Sotheby's New York, 22nd-23rd March 1999, lot 382.

紐約蘇富比1999年3月22至23日，編號382

From the first year of his reign, the Yongzheng Emperor commissioned items from the Palace Workshops, effecting change in its output. Antiques in the Palace Collection were used as standards for quality, models for archaistic designs and as inspiration for innovation. Simplicity of form and absence of decoration were stylistic trends introduced by Tang Ying, Superintendent of the Imperial kilns in Jingdezhen, and also endorsed by the Emperor.

The fresh modernity of this meiping, with its subtly cracked bluish-gray glaze imitating the treasured Ru wares of the Northern Song dynasty and its generously swelling form, is an excellent example of the deceptive minimalism that would have demanded the highest level of aesthetic conception and technical mastery from the potters.

Compare a meiping of the same size and profile, described as applied with a Guan-type glaze, sold in our Hong Kong rooms, 29th April 1997, lot 579.