A fine and rare robin's-egg glazed vase, meiping, Seal mark and period of Qianlong | 清乾隆 爐鈞釉梅瓶 《大清乾隆年製》款

Sotheby’s London, 10th December 1991, lot 293.

Sotheby’s Hong Kong, 1st May 2001, lot 520.

Eskenazi Ltd, London.

The Ten-Views Lingbi Rock Retreat Collection, coll. no. EK77.

倫敦蘇富比1991年12月10日，編號293

香港蘇富比2001年5月1日，編號520

埃斯卡納齊，倫敦

十面靈璧山居收藏，編號 EK77

Giuseppe Eskenazi in collaboration with Hajni Elias, A Dealer’s Hand. The Chinese Art World Through the Eyes of Giuseppe Eskenazi, London, 2012; Chinese version, Shanghai, 2015, reprint, 2017, pl. 434.

埃斯卡納齊，薛好佩整理，《中國藝術品經眼錄：埃斯卡納齊的回憶》，倫敦，2012年，中譯版，上海，2015年，2017年再版，圖434

Innovated during the Yongzheng period (1723-35) and particularly favoured by the Qianlong Emperor, the ‘robin’s egg’ glaze was created as a reinterpretation of Jun glazes of the Song (960-1279) and Ming (1368-1644) dynasties. A development attributable to Tang Ying (1682-1756), the glaze was coined lu jun, or ‘furnace Jun’ because it was fired at a lower temperature than that of firing the porcelain. This glaze is mentioned on a stele inscribed by Tang Ying in Jingdezhen as one of the major types of ceramics that he succeeded in firing and proposed as suitable for regular delivery to the imperial court. The mottled turquoise effect on the present vase, achieved with the use of copper and arsenic, is particularly finely streaked and the shade is of a vivid light turquoise blue. While some quantities of vessels covered in this striking glaze were manufactured in the imperial kilns, only the finest pieces bear a Yongzheng or Qianlong mark.

Qianlong-marked meiping vases applied with 'robin's egg' glazes are surprisingly rare. See a smaller Qianlong mark and period example (21.3 cm) sold at Christie's Hong Kong, 30th November 2016, lot 3322. For a Yongzheng prototype, see one of smaller size (22 cm) from the collection of John Milton Bonham, sold in our New York rooms, 11th September 2019, lot 621.