A sacrificial blue-glazed vase, yuhuchunping, Mark and period of Yongzheng | 清雍正　霽藍釉玉壺春瓶　《大清雍正年製》款

Julian Thompson, The Alan Chuang Collection of Chinese Porcelain, Hong Kong, 2009, pl. 84.

The rich jewel-like sapphire-blue glaze seen on the present vase was first used in the Yuan dynasty and is commonly referred to as 'sacrificial blue' as vessels bearing this glaze colour were used during sacrifices at the Imperial Altar of Heaven. As outlined in the exhibition catalogue Blessings and Guidance. The Qianlong Emperor's Design for State Sacrificial Vessels, The Chinese University of Hong Kong, Hong Kong, 2019, p. 27, the Altar of Heaven was linked with the deep blue colour of the sky and in 1369, the Hongwu Emperor (r. 1368-1398) issued an edict declaring that vessels on the imperial altars should henceforth be made of porcelain.

For similar Yongzheng yuhuchunping, see one preserved in the Palace Museum, Taipei (zhong ci 000589N), included in Qingdai danse you ciqi tezhan [Special exhibition of monochrome glazed porcelain of the Qing dynasty], Palace Museum, Taipei, 1981, cat. no. 37, another illustrated in Ethereal Elegance: Porcelain Vases of the Imperial Qing, The Huaihaitang Collection, Art Museum, The Chinese University of Hong Kong, Hong Kong, cat. no. 15, and another published in Shimmering Colours: Monochromes of the Yuan to Qing Periods, Art Museum, The Chinese University of Hong Kong, Hong Kong, 2005, cat. no. 57.

來源

朱湯生，《中國瓷器：莊紹綏收藏》，香港，2009年，圖版84

此瓶之藍釉深沉濃豔，又稱霽藍或祭藍，因宮廷選用施此藍釉的禮器祭祀天壇而得名。誠如展覽圖錄《皇朝禮器》所述（香港中文大學，香港，2019年，頁27），天空的深藍色與祭祀天壇相配，洪武三年，明太祖朱元璋詔命「今擬凡祭器皆用瓷」。