A FINE BLUE AND WHITE IMPERIAL 'PHOENIX' MALLET VASE

Estimated Value:

10.000 € - 15.000 €

Result:

incl. Premium and VAT

Description:

China, underglaze blue Kangxi six-character mark and period
H. 18,2 cm
Elegantly potted, the bell-shaped body surmounted by a cylindrical neck with lipped rim, painted on both sides in with a highly stylized kui phoenix design, its head on the neck of the vase dissolving into abstract blue scrolls draping over the shoulders against a plain white ground, the down-turned crested head grasping a ring between its beak, the recessed base with a six-character reign mark in three columns in underglaze blue.
Collection of Dr. Ulrich Lindemann (1920-2018), his 1st collection piece, gifted by his aunt Hilde Lindemann, who purchased the vase for him 1969 from China Bohlken, Heinrich Peters in Berlin
Published and exhibited: Suebsman/ Antonin ‚Porcelain Treasures of the Kangxi Period‘, Hetjens-Museum Duesseldorf 2015, p. 106, no. 56 Exhibited ‚The Dancing Dragon/ China Contemporary‘ Hetjens Museum, Duesseldorf, 19.7.2015 - 17.1.2016, no. 56
Finely potted and brightly painted with a phoenix in vivid shades of cobalt blue, this vase displays the innovations made possible by the technical advances in porcelain production during the Kangxi period (r. 1662-1722). The emperor's revival of the imperial kilns at Jingdezhen early in his reign appears to have initiated a new departure for porcelain design, creating vessels of fresh forms and spirited designs like the present vase. The motif of a kui-phoenix, king of all birds, is known from bronze vessels from as early as the Warring States period (ca. 475-221 BC), and the present stylized design demonstrates the Qing trend of reinterpreting archaistic designs to achieve modern aesthetics. The imperial Kangxi reign mark on the base is written in the style which suggest a dating to the Zang directorship (1680-1688). The Chinese call this shape shuanglu ping in allusion to the shape of pieces used in Shuanglu, an ancient board game similar to backgammon A vase of this design in the Palace Museum, Beijing, is illustrated in Geng Baochang, ed., Gugong Bowuyuan cang Qingdai yuyao ciqi [Porcelains from the Qing dynasty imperial kilns in the Palace Museum collection], Beijing, 2005, vol. 1, part 1, pl. 47, together with a Yongzheng version, part 2, pl. 40; another Kangxi vase in the National Museum of China, Beijing, is pub lished in Zhongguo Guojia Bowuguan guancang wenwu yanjiu congshu/Studies on the Collections of the National Museum of China. Ciqi juan [Porcelain section] , Qingdai [Qing dynasty], Shanghai, 2007, pl. 2. The design was also executed in under glaze copper red; for an example in the Shanghai Museum see Zhongguo taoci quanji [Complete series on Chinese ceramics], Shanghai, 1999-2000, vol. 14, pl. 24; and for one in Taipei, Gugong Qing ci tulu. Kangxi yao, Yongzheng yao/Illustrated Cata logue of Ch'ing Dynasty Porcelain in the National Palace Museum, Republic of China. K'ang-hsi Ware and Yung-cheng Ware, Tokyo, 1980, pl. 21 - Fine hairline at the base and short hairline at the mouth filled

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