A fine and rare guan-type vase, fanghu, Seal mark and period of Qianlong | 清乾隆　仿官釉貫耳方壺　《大清乾隆年製》款

Julian Thompson, The Alan Chuang Collection of Chinese Porcelain, Hong Kong, 2009, pl. 79.

The form of the present vase is based on Shang and Zhou dynasty bronze wine vessels but the unctuous pale bluish-green glaze suffused with fine craquelure evokes Song dynasty Guan celadon wares that also imitated ancient ritual vessels. The Qianlong Emperor revered both, and this vase attests to the imperial ceramicists' ingenuity in utilizing historical precedents in the creation of new works that met the Emperor's exacting standards for quality and antiquarian taste.

See a similar vase but bearing an imperial inscription by the Qianlong Emperor on the base, preserved in the collection of the Taipei Palace Museum, Taipei, gu ci 017905. Another vase similar to the present one from the Art Gallery of the Chinese University of Hong Kong was included in the exhibition Qing Imperial Porcelain of the Kangxi, Yongzheng and Qianlong Reigns, Hong Kong, 1995, cat. no. 63; and two vases of this type, one with a crackled glaze and the other with a plain guan-type glaze, are published in Regina Krahl, Chinese Ceramics from the Meiyintang Collection, vol. II, London, 1994, pls 874 and 875. Two further vases of this type are illustrated in Qing Imperial Monochromes: The Zande Lou Collection, Hong Kong, 2005, pl. 32; another is illustrated by John Ayers in The Baur Collection, Geneva, vol. III, 1972, no. A344; and an example from the Garner Collection was included in the Oriental Ceramic Society exhibition The Arts of the Ch'ing Dynasty, London, 1964, cat. no. 276. See also another from the Edward T. Chow Collection sold in these rooms, 25th November 1980, lot 91 and on 19th May 1981, lot 501; a similar vase that sold twice these rooms, first on 20th November 1985, lot 203, and then again on 6th April 2016, lot 3638; and one without the craquelure sold in our New York rooms, 20th March 2012, lot 243.

出版

朱湯生，《中國瓷器：莊紹綏收藏》，香港，2009年，圖版79

此瓶器型取法商周青銅酒器，然其釉色瑩潤，呈淡青綠色，釉面佈滿細密開片，此般質感顯然承襲自宋代官窰青瓷，宋官窰本身亦是對上古禮器的摹古之作。乾隆皇帝對商周青銅與宋瓷雅韻二者皆極為推崇，本品正是御窰匠人融匯古意的傑作，既契合皇帝對品質的嚴苛標準，亦展現了其深厚的仿古審美。

同類器型一例， 底面鐫刻乾隆御題詩文，藏於台北故宮博物院，藏品編號：故瓷17905。另一例與本品相似者，藏於香港中文大學文物館藏於香港中文大學文物館，展於《清瓷萃珍──清代康雍乾官窯瓷器》，香港，1995年，編號63。另有二壺，皆仿官釉，一例冰裂，另一例光素無紋，載於康蕊君，《玫茵堂中國陶瓷》，卷2，倫敦，1994年，圖版874及875。胡惠春舊藏且有一對，尺寸較小，圖載於《暫得樓清代官窰單色釉瓷器》，香港中文大學文物館，香港，2005年，圖版32。另見 John Ayers，《The Baur Collection》第三卷，日內瓦，1972年，編號A344；加納收藏的一例曾展出於東方陶瓷學會於1964年倫敦舉辦的《The Arts of the Ch'ing Dynasty》，編號276。另可參見仇焱之收藏的一件，售於香港蘇富比1980年11月25日，編號91及1981年5月19日，編號501；一件相似的瓶子曾兩度於香港蘇富比售出，首次為1985年11月20日，編號203，後再於2016年4月6日，編號3638；以及一件無開片的例子，於紐約蘇富比2012年3月20日，編號243。