A rare pair of copper-red decorated vases, Yuhuchun ping Yuan dynasty | 元 釉裏紅灑斑玉壺春瓶一對

Offered at Sotheby's Hong Kong, 29th October 1991, lot 25.

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曾於香港蘇富比上拍，1991年10月29日，編號25

Striking for the bold splashes of copper against a pale celadon glaze, vases of this type were made at Jingdezhen during the Yuan dynasty when potters began experimenting with copper pigments on qingbai-type glazes. J.M. Addis in Chinese Porcelain from the Addis Collection. Twenty-two Pieces of Chingtechen Porcelain Presented to the British Museum, London, 1979, pp. 9-10, discusses the experimental techniques of the Yuan dynasty. It is however possible that the large splashes on this piece predate the use of underglaze red as a colour ground.

A vase of this shape and decorated with similar splashes is illustrated in Chen Yongzhi, Porcelain Unearthed from Jininglu Ancient City Site in Inner Mongolia, Beijing, 2004, pl. 41; another example was included in the Oriental Ceramics Society Exhibition of Jingdezhen Wares. The Yuan Evolution, London, 1984, cat. no. 146. Compare also with a third vase of this type sold in these rooms, 20th May 1981, lot 652.