A Transitional wucai baluster vase with cover, 17th Century, Shunzhi (1644-1662).
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The shape is simple with broad shoulders tapering towards a flat unglazed base. The scene is painted in under glaze blue with varying shades of green, red, yellow and aubergine enamels detailing Shoulao and the Eight Immortals, each with their appropriate attribute and strung out around the vase. The straight neck is decorated with sprays of peony typical of the Shunzhi period. Height 32,5 cm.
Restored.
Provenance
Purchased from Guest & Gray, London, January 2007.
The Avalon Collection.
This collection, which in the main focuses on the Interregnum and Kangxi periods has been both carefully and sensitively formed over the last twenty-five years. The collector, a member of the English Oriental Ceramic Society, has assembled the collection with an eye for provenance whilst purchasing from old European collections, well-established antique dealers and at auction.
Academically, the pieces have been well researched both in terms of their symbolism and narrative themes. In many instances the imagery on the pieces has been referenced to episodes in the romantic and historic novels of Chinese mythology, which were used extensively in the decoration of seventeenth century Chinese porcelain.
Literature
The gathering of The Eight Immortals before Shoulao is a typical scene on many Shunzhi wares and other examples can be seen in “Shunzhi Porcelain: Treasures from an Unknown Reign 1644 – 1661”, by Michael Butler, Julia B Curtis and Stephen Little, Item No’s: 74 – 77.