AN OUTSTANDING PEACHBLOOM WASHER MARK AND PERIOD OF KANGXI

delicately potted with low rounded sides incurved at the mouth and supported on a low straight foot, the exterior covered with the quintessential 'peachbloom' colour of brilliant crimson tone with an attractive mottling of lighter pink shades around the foot, the sides speckled with tiny dots of emerald green, the interior and recessed base left white, the base inscribed with a six-character reign mark in underglaze blue

Acquired in Shanghai in the 1930s and 1940s.

Zandelou Qingdai guanyao danseyou ciqi/Qing Imperial Monochromes. The Zandelou Collection, Shanghai Museum, Beijing Museum and Art Museum, The Chinese University of Hong Kong, 2005, cat. no. 3.

Helen D. Ling and E.T. Chow, Collection of Chinese Ceramics from the Pavilion of Ephemeral Attainment, vol. II, Hong Kong, 1950, pl. 82.

Apart from a few minute pinholes and specks of kiln grit on the interior, the overall condition is very good. The actual colour is very close to the catalogue illustration.
"In response to your inquiry, we are pleased to provide you with a general report of the condition of the property described above. Since we are not professional conservators or restorers, we urge you to consult with a restorer or conservator of your choice who will be better able to provide a detailed, professional report. Prospective buyers should inspect each lot to satisfy themselves as to condition and must understand that any statement made by Sotheby's is merely a subjective, qualified opinion. Prospective buyers should also refer to any Important Notices regarding this sale, which are printed in the Sale Catalogue.
NOTWITHSTANDING THIS REPORT OR ANY DISCUSSIONS CONCERNING A LOT, ALL LOTS ARE OFFERED AND SOLD AS IS" IN ACCORDANCE WITH THE CONDITIONS OF BUSINESS PRINTED IN THE SALE CATALOGUE."

Peachbloom-glazed brushwashers of this form were produced in great number at the imperial kilns, but the notoriously difficult copper-red glaze hardly ever turned out as brilliantly as in the present case. With its clear, strong red colour and subtle mottling this piece must have ranked among the most successful specimens. To manage the fugitive copper pigment, for peachbloom glazes the copper solution is believed to have been sprayed onto a layer of transparent glaze and then fixed with another layer, so as to be sandwiched between two layers of clear glaze. The technique marks one of the great ceramic innovations of the Kangxi period, but probably due to this demanding process it remained in use for only a short time and was never revived again at a later stage.

A washer with a comparable intense red glaze in the Palace Museum, Beijing, is illustrated in The Complete Collection of Treasures of the Palace Museum. Monochrome Porcelain, Hong Kong, 1999, pl. 19; another bright red washer of this form, but with fine, pale mottling is in the Shanghai Museum, published in Kangxi Porcelain Wares from the Shanghai Museum Collection, Hong Kong, 1998, pl. 208.