A fine and very rare imperial Guan-type 'fish basket' vessel, Seal mark and of the period of Qianlong | 清乾隆 仿官釉雙繫魚簍尊 《大清乾隆年製》款

J.M. Hu Family Collection.

Sotheby's New York, 4th June 1985, lot 61.

Bonhams Hong Kong, 3rd December 2015, lot 27 and back cover.

胡惠春家族收藏

紐約蘇富比1985年6月4日，編號61

香港邦瀚斯2015年12月3日，編號27及封底

Although the celadon glaze and brown dressing of the white porcelain body, as visible at the feet, are aimed at evoking Song dynasty prototypes, this shape, which is often referred to as yu lou ('fish basket'), does not have any Song dynasty models, and appears to have been developed in the Yongzheng reign.

Two vessels of this form with a crackled guan-type glaze and of Qianlong mark and period, also from the Zande Lou Collection, formed by J.M. Hu, and were included in the exhibition Qing Imperial Monochromes. The Zande Lou Collection, Art Museum, The Chinese University of Hong Kong, Hong Kong, 2005, cat. no. 31; another example from the J.M. Hu collection was sold together with the present vessel in our New York rooms, 4th June 1985, lot 60; a further Guan-type example, formerly in the Meiyintang collection, was sold in these rooms, 4th October 2011, lot 5. Another crackle-glazed Qianlong vessel of this form, described as imitating Ru ware and called huanang (flower purse), is illustrated in Geng Baochang, Ming Qing ciqi jianding [Appraisal of Ming and Qing porcelain], Hong Kong, 1993, fig. 456, with a line drawing of the form, p. 265, fig. 452: 4, where the author states, p. 267, that in the Yongzheng period, this shape often had a ring foot, that in the Qianlong period, it was also made with sky-blue glaze, and that copies of the Republican period have a thick body and glaze and are comparatively coarse.

A vessel of this form of Yongzheng mark and period with a teadust-brown glaze is illustrated in Geng Baochang, ed., Gugong Bowuyuan cang Qingdai yuyao ciqi [Porcelains from the Qing dynasty imperial kilns in the Palace Museum collection], Beijing, 2005, vol. 1, part 2, pl. 13.

本器釉色青泛灰藍，器足鐵褐，皆仿宋代風貌，然魚簍尊造型，不見宋代作例，似為雍正朝創燒。 

兩件造型相同的清乾隆仿汝釉雙耳魚簍尊，同屬胡惠春暫得樓典藏，載於《暫得樓清代官窰單色釉瓷器》，香港中文大學文物館，香港，2005年，編號31。胡惠春舊藏尚有一例，同售於紐約蘇富比1985年6月4日，編號60。玫茵堂舊藏也有一例，2011年10月4日經香港蘇富比易手，編號5。也可比較一件乾隆款仿汝窰雙繫花囊，收錄於耿寶昌，《明清瓷器鑑定》，香港，1993年，圖456，另有線繪示意圖，見於同書頁265，圖452:4。作者於書中提及（見頁267），此器形，雍正時多具圈足，乾隆時期，也見天藍釉例，民國時仿品胎釉俱厚，形體粗笨。

參考一件清雍正類例，器形無異，飾茶葉末釉，載於耿寶昌編著，《故宮博物院藏清代御窰瓷器》，北京，2005，卷1（下冊），圖版13。