Adam's Asian Art - Fine Oriental Ceramics, Sculptures & Art November 3rd 2018

Saturday 3 rd November 2018 78 112 A LARGE HU SHAPED CELADON GLAZED VASE with tubular handles, Yongzheng (1723 - 1735), with broad rounded sides moulded with a single bow-string to the centre, on a short spreading foot and rising to a cylindrical neck en- circled by a further bowstring with hollowed side handles and lipped rim, the base treated with brown rim and centred with seal reign mark in underglaze blue, 53cm high € 20,000 - 30,000 Seas of Celadon Green Alongside blue and white, which has become a byword today for ceramics originating in China, the colour celadon, in its many and varied shades and hues, could claim an equal stature; through the ages of Chinese ceramic manufacture, celadon welled continually like a ceramic green tidal wave of multiple complexions. Indeed, unlike blue and white, which had not always been as popular in China as it was to become after its ascendancy during the Yuan (1239-1368), celadon glazes, by contrast, were never out of fashion, and are represented here and in a number of other lots in this auction; compare, for in- stance, lots 61 and 62, items produced earlier than the present lot and in different places. Apart from these so-called Longq- uan celadons, during the Qing Dynasty (1644-1911) the imperial kilns at Jingdezhen were also charged with the production of celadon wares, of which the present lot is an outstanding example. Celadon production had begun modestly at Jingdezhen during the Ming (1368-1644), but it was during the Qing that the taste for celadon became most conspicuous. The Yongzheng Emperor (reigning 1723 to 1735) whose seal mark adorns this vase was a diligent porcelain connoisseur, just as his father the Kangxi Emperor (reigning 1662 to 1722) had been before him, and as his son after him, the Qianlong Emperor (reigning 1736 to 1795), would be in turn. Yongzheng actively legislated for the quality of the porcelain coming out of Jingdezhen’s official imperial kilns. This was a matter on which he held firm views. Kiln superintendents were appointed to oversee the quality of ceramics produced for use at court, ceramics that during this period would achieve new heights of in- novation and finesse. Past traditions were respected - in fact, the shape of the present lot ultimately and deferentially echoes archaic precedents - though at the same time, these precedents were never slavishly followed; rather, the old and the new coexisted in a fusion that combined respect for past tradition with a forward-looking spirit of innovation and renewal. Ceram- ics were created which aspired to embody the best of both worlds, of the world that had been and of the one that currently was. Prof. Alan. J Fletcher, MRIA