Adam's FINE ASIAN ART 28th,29th,30th Preview June 2022

46 A DOUCAI PORCELAIN ‘PROCESSION’ PHOENIX-TAIL VASE, FENGWEIZUN APOCRYPHAL MARK OF EMPEROR CHENGHUA CHINA, QING DYNASTY It rests on a short unglazed ring foot and has an elongated egg-shaped body surmounted by a trumpet neck. It is very finely enamelled in a doucai palette with an equestrian procession of Daoist gods and attendants, the one leading the procession pointing his arm to celestial clouds. The base is inscribed in underglaze cobalt blue with an apocryphal six-character mark of Emperor Chenghua within a double circle. H: 45 cm Provenance: - a Southern France private collection; - purchased from Galerie Beauté Chinoise, Stand 40, 142, rue des Rosiers, 93400 Saint-Ouen, France, in February 2019 (with original invoice); - private collection of Jean Hougron, gifted to his son, Alexandre Houdron, at the end of the 1980s. Notes: 1. Shape: Fenhweizun ( 凤尾尊 ) vases, also referred to as ‘Phoenix-tail’ or ‘Yenyen’ vases, have a shape inspired by Gu vases. However, it has a more widely flaring, trumpet neck, resembling a phoenix tail, and a heavier body at the bottom. 2. Doucai ( 斗彩 ) is a technique in painting Chinese porcelain, where parts of the design, and some outlines of the rest, are painted in underglaze blue, and the piece is then glazed and fired. The rest of the design is then added in overglaze enamels of different colours and the piece fired again at a lower temperature of about 850°C to 900°C. €10,000-15,000