A robin's egg-glazed incense burner, Seal mark and period of Yongzheng | 清雍正 爐鈞釉簋式爐 《大清雍正年製》款

Sotheby's Hong Kong, 8th October 2010, lot 2665.

Eskenazi Ltd, London, no. EK394.

An important North American private collection, by repute.

香港蘇富比2010年10月8日，編號2665

埃斯卡納齊，倫敦，編號 EK394

傳北美重要私人收藏

Vessels covered in this flamboyant and imaginative 'Robin's egg' glaze first appeared during the Yongzheng period and continued being made into the 19th century. Amongst the early vessels, only the finest examples bear a Yongzheng reign mark and the present censer is a particularly select piece within this small group of wares for its well fired rich glaze and elegant curved form. According to Regina Krahl, 'Robin's egg' glaze is seen as a free interpretation of Song dynasty 'Jun' glazes, being called lu Jun (furnace Jun) in Chinese, because it was fired in a furnace of a lower temperature after the firing of the porcelain. (See Regina Krahl, Chinese Ceramics from the Meiyintang Collection, vol. Two, London, 1994, p. 252)

For a censer of this glaze, form and size see one from the collection of Edward T. Chow, sold twice in these rooms, 19th May 1981, lot 502 and 20th May 1987, lot 516, and again in our New York rooms, 21st March 2023, lot 13, from the Cadle Family Collection; see also a smaller related example sold in these rooms, 25th November 1978, lot 155. Another Yongzheng 'Robin's egg' censer of this type was included in the Min Chiu Society exhibition Monochrome Ceramics of Ming and Ch'ing Dynasties, Hong Kong Museum of Art, Hong Kong, 1977, cat. no. 108; and a fourth example was sold at Christie's Hong Kong, 1st November 2004, lot 876, with the glaze referred to as 'peacock-feather', a type of 'Robin's egg' glaze.