- 582
A RARE ROBIN'S EGG-GLAZED 'BEEHIVE' WATERPOT QING DYNASTY, 18TH/19TH CENTURY
Estimate
6,000 - 9,000 GBP
bidding is closed
Description
the domed body rising from a short foot with recessed base to a narrow waisted neck and flaring rim, covered overall with a characteristic mottled turquoise and dark blue glaze
Provenance
Sotheby's Hong Kong, 29th November 1977, lot 80.
Catalogue Note
It is extremely rare to find waterpots of this type covered in robins-egg glaze. Waterpots of this shape are known as taibo zun after the Tang dynasty poet Li Taibo. They are usually included in the groups of eight peachbloom wares for the scholar's table of the Kangxi period as illustrated in Suzanne G. Valenstein, A Handbook of Chinese Ceramics, New York, 1989, p. 237, from the Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York. For another example of a Kangxi peachbloom waterpot see one in the Percival David Foundation, London, included in the Illustrated Catalogue of Ming and Qing Monochrome Wares, London, September 1989, cat.no. 580 and on the front cover.