Large Guan-type gourd vase with cracked glaze from the Yongzheng era

A large Yongzheng Guan-type gourd vase with cracked cover and two handles in the form of stylized chimeras. Yongzheng mark in cobalt blue under the base.

Height: 52.5 cm
Width: 39 cm
Depth: 24 cm

Restoration to neck and handles, crack to neck.

Provenance: Acquired by the great-grandfather of the current owners, Monsieur Fernand Hébert, a lawyer who traveled in China in 1911 and 1920.

Text by Valentina Bruccoleri

This flat-walled gourd features the characteristic “moon gourd” shape (baoyueping 抱月瓶, sometimes written 宝月瓶), with a narrow neck connected to the main body of the piece by two symmetrically arranged, scroll-shaped handles. A medallion in slight relief stands out on the surface of the central part. The foot is rectangular in shape, blackened on the base, framing the Da Qing Yongzheng nianzhi 大清雍正年製 mark (“made in the Yongzheng era of the Great Qing”), painted in archaic characters in cobalt blue under glaze. The glaze of this piece has a bluish-green color tending to gray, with a crack covering the entire surface, which varies in size and intensity according to the different parts of the object. The appearance of this glaze, rarely used for pieces of this shape, as well as that of the foot, called “iron foot” (tiezu 铁足), are closely inspired by Guan ceramics produced under the Song dynasty, which were among the most highly prized ceramics.
The shape has its origins in gourds made of metal in the Islamic world in much earlier times, where they could show the surface domed on one side and flat on the other. An example of this type is a piece preserved at the Freer & Sackler Gallery of Art in Washington (Fig. 1a): this is a Syrian or Iraqi production from the Ayyubid period (1174-1193), measuring 42.5 cm. The first Chinese porcelains imitating this shape were produced in the early Ming dynasty during the Yongle era (1402-1424), as shown by an example in blue and white porcelain, also in the Freer & Sackler Gallery (Fig. 1b). Numerous variants of the flat-walled gourd appeared in subsequent reigns; the present version is recurrent in the 18th century, particularly in the Yongzheng era.
A rare, closely related example of this gourd, featuring the eight trigrams (bagua 八卦) in relief around the central medallion illustrating the taijitu 太极图, is preserved in the Palace Museum, Beijing (Fig. 2). Examples of the same form produced in the Yongzheng era may feature different decorative techniques: a similar piece, but with a Ge-type cover, was sold at Sotheby’s Hong Kong on April 6, 2016 (lot 3017). Another similar piece, with ruyi heads instead of trigrams, was sold at Woolley & Wallis on December 7, 2020 (lot 121). Two other porcelains with eight trigrams, one with a Jun glaze and the other with a Ru glaze, were sold at Bonhams Hong Kong on December 3, 2015 (lot 1 and 7). The same shape could also be made in porcelain with underglaze cobalt-blue decoration, as on a piece in the Idemitsu Museum [Sekai Toji Zenshu / Catalogue of World’s Ceramics, Tokyo, 1983, vol. 15, fig. 151]. Finally, the Palace Museum in Beijing holds a yellow monochrome piece with incised lotus decoration (故00156831), dated to the Qianlong era (1735-1796).
The 18th century in China was a period of appreciation for the art and culture of earlier dynasties. Objects from earlier dynasties, including ceramics from the great kilns of the Song dynasty, such as Jun and Guan, were greatly admired by Emperor Yongzheng. During his reign, Jingdezhen’s production, under the supervision of Tang Ying (1682-1756), was particularly influenced by these historical productions. The emperor also commissioned portraits depicting him in the style of a scholar, surrounded by imperial scrolls, bronzes and ancient ceramics. In a painting depicting Emperor Yongzheng reading by the fire (Weilu guan shuye 围炉观书页), a straight-necked bottle bearing a cracked Guan cover appears in one of the bookshelves at the back of the room (Fig. 3).
At the crossroads of the heritage of Ming forms of Islamic origin and the traditional ceramic culture of the Song dynasty, this object conveys the refined taste of the Yongzheng court and the high technical level of the Jingdezhen kilns during the 18th century.

Fig. 1
Brass gourd with silver inlays, H. 45.2 cm, Syria or Iraq, 13th century, Freer Gallery, Washington, inv. F1941.10 (a) and blue and white porcelain gourd, H. 46.9 cm, Jingdezhen, Ming dynasty, reign of Yongle (1402-1424), F1958.2 (b). Photo : wikicommons.

Fig. 2
Guan-type covered flask, Jingdezhen, Qing dynasty, reign of Yongzheng (1723-1735), Beijing Palace Museum, 故00156683. Photo: museum database, https://digicol.dpm.org.cn.

Fig. 3
Detail of the painting “Reading around the fire”, Yinzhen Entertainment Album (Yinzhen xingle tuce 胤禛行乐图册), Beijing Palace Museum. Photo: Qingdai gongting huihua, Nie Chongzheng (ed.), Hong Kong, 1999, p. 110, n. 16.15.