£12,500
Fine Asian & Islamic Works of Art | 682
Auction: 13 May 2022 at 11:00 BST
康熙款或到代 豇豆紅釉太白尊
the rounded sides raised to a short, waisted neck and slightly flaring mouth, incised with three archaistic dragon roundels beneath a glaze of even, crushed strawberry tone suffused with mottled copper-green, the rim, interior and base are covered in a transparent glaze, the base inscribed with a six-character Kangxi mark in underglaze blue
Provenance: formerly in a private American collection
Note: Water pots of this form are known as Taibai zun, after the Tang dynasty poet Li Bai (also named Li Taibai, 701-762) who is often depicted leaning against a large wine vat of this shape.
Similar peachbloom-glazed water pots are found in various museums and collections worldwide, including the Percival David Foundation of Chinese Art, illustrated in Earth, Fire and Water: Chinese Ceramic Technology, London, 1996, no. 24, p. 34; the Baur Collection, Catalogue, vol. III, Geneva, 1999, nos. A305, A310 and A313-A316; a full set of the eight vessels at the Metropolitan Museum of Art, illustrated by S.G. Valenstein, A Handbook of Chinese Ceramics, New York, 1989, p. 237; the British Museum, Oriental Ceramics, The World's Great Collections, vol. 5, Tokyo, 1981, no. 230.
Compare to a similar water pot sold at Christie's Hong Kong, 30 November 2011, lot 2924. An example of a smaller size (8.9cm diam.) was sold at Sotheby's Hong Kong, 11 April 2008, lot 2907.