A 'Langyao' red-glazed bottle vase, Qing dynasty, Kangxi period

Sotheby's Hong Kong, 17th May 1989, lot 173.

Private Collection.

Sotheby's Hong Kong, 2nd May 2005, lot 667.

Rich and lustrously glazed copper-red monochrome porcelains were perfected during the Yongle (1403-1424) and Xuande (1426-1435) reigns in the Ming dynasty (1368-1644), but the large number of discarded sherds at the Jingdezhen kiln sites highlights the difficulties experienced by even the most highly accomplished imperial potters of that time to achieve satisfactory results. After the Xuande reign, the copper pigment was therefore almost completely abandoned, and monochrome copper-red vessels were only revived on a grand scale about two centuries later under the Qing Kangxi Emperor. 

Also known as sang-de-boeuf (‘ox-blood’), the copper-red langyao glaze was developed under Lang Tingji (1663-1715), supervisor of the imperial kilns at Jingdezhen from 1705-1712, and the term is thought to derive from his name. Under his direction, the imperial potters attempted to recreate the lost formula of the early Ming period. Indeed, the depth, richness, and slight mottling of the glaze on the present vase, together with the thin blurred border of white at the lip, suggest a deliberate recreation of revered Xuande period red monochromes. 

See a very similar 'Langyao' vase, formerly in the collection of Mr. and Mrs. Earl Morse, sold twice at Christie's New York, 24th-25th March 2011, lot 1780 and 19th September 2014, lot 886, and most recently in our Hong Kong rooms, 22nd April 2021, lot 3626.