A Chinese blue painted 'Red Cliff' vase Kangxi mark and period
£22,000
Auction: 26 September 2007 at 11:00 BST
Description
with flared neck and square tapered body, the neck decorated with bamboo, two sides decorated with the two 'Odes to the Red Cliff' by the Song poet Su Dongpo (1037 - 1096) , two sides with finely painted landscapes, unglazed foot rim with glazed recess bearing six character Kangxi mark
Dimensions
55cm high
Footnote
This is one of a number of 'Red Cliff ' vases made in the 1690's and painted with identical scenes, possibly taken from woodblock prints, which appear to be from the same kiln in Jingdezhen.
For the nearest similar example see Curtis, 'Chinese Porcelain of the Seventeenth Century ' 1995, no 26. For other examples see S. Marchant & Son, 'Exhibition of Qing Mark and Period Blue and White' 1984, No 1 and TOCS 49, Butler see Fig 40.
That other kilns also produced "Red Cliff " vases often based on the same prints see TOCS 49, Butler Fig 39 and S. T Yeo and Jean Martin, "Chinese Blue and White Ceramics " Plate 138 No 262.
The Red Cliffs of the poem was purported to be the site of the Battle of the Red Cliffs in 208 AD.