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Lot Essay
The robin's egg-blue glaze first appeared during the Yongzheng period, and is generally thought to have been developed as a free interpretation of Song dynasty Jun glazes reflecting the Yongzheng and Qianlong period interest in producing glazes that were both attractive in color and innovative in their use of texture. The Taocheng jishi bei (Commemorative Stele on Ceramic Production) lists the robin's egg-blue glaze as the first of nineteen most popular glazes from the Imperial factory in 1735.
Vases in all shapes were covered with robin's egg-blue glaze. This particular shape is called biqi in Chinese, which means water chestnut, as the shape resembles that tuber. A Qianlong period vase of the same size and shape as the present vase, but with a ru-type glaze, is illustrated by Xu Huping (ed.) in The Official Kilu Porcelain of the Chinese Qing Dynasty, Shanghai, 2003, p. 332.
Vases in all shapes were covered with robin's egg-blue glaze. This particular shape is called biqi in Chinese, which means water chestnut, as the shape resembles that tuber. A Qianlong period vase of the same size and shape as the present vase, but with a ru-type glaze, is illustrated by Xu Huping (ed.) in The Official Kilu Porcelain of the Chinese Qing Dynasty, Shanghai, 2003, p. 332.