A 'Langyao' copper-red glazed vase, Qing dynasty, Kangxi period | 清康熙　郎窰紅釉觀音尊

Collection of Arthur Phillips, Tunbridge Wells.

Sotheby’s Hong Kong, 9th November 1982, lot 245.

Collection of the Chang Foundation, Taipei.

International Exhibition of Chinese Art, Royal Academy of Art, London, 1935-36, cat. no. 2304.

Treasures from the Chang Foundation, National Museum of Chinese History, Beijing, 1996, cat. no. 31.

Chang Foundation Inaugural Catalogue, Chang Foundation, Taipei, 1990, p. 51.

Selected Chinese Ceramics from Han to Qing Dynasties, Chang Foundation, Taipei, 1990, cat. no. 114.

Rich and lustrously glazed copper-red monochrome porcelains were perfected during the Yongle and Xuande reigns of the Ming dynasty, but the large number of discarded sherds at the Jingdezhen kiln sites highlights the difficulties experienced even by the most highly accomplished imperial potters of the time in achieving satisfactory results. After the Xuande reign, the use of copper pigment was therefore almost completely abandoned, and monochrome copper-red vessels were only revived on a grand scale about two centuries later under the Kangxi Emperor of the Qing dynasty.

Also known as sang-de-boeuf ('ox-blood'), the copper-red Langyao glaze was developed under Lang Tingji (1663-1715), supervisor of the imperial kilns at Jingdezhen from 1705-1712, and the term is thought to derive from his name. Under his direction, imperial potters sought to recreate the lost formula of the early Ming period. The depth, richness, and slight mottling of the glaze on the present vase, together with the thin blurred border of white at the lip and foot, suggest a deliberate recreation of revered Xuande red monochromes.

The present vase, with its exceptionally fine glaze and baluster shape, is a quintessential example of Kangxi Langyao ware. Related vases are held in important museums and private collections worldwide. Compare two very similar examples in the Palace Museum, Beijing, illustrated in Kangxi, Yongzheng, Qianlong. Qing Porcelain from the Palace Museum Collection, Hong Kong, 1989, pls 116 and 117. Another with a metal mouthrim in the collection of the Nanjing Museum, Nanjing, is shown in Qing Imperial Porcelain of the Kangxi, Yongzheng and Qianlong Reigns, Nanjing and Hong Kong, 1995, cat. no. 1. Compare two vases with more white at the neck: the first in the collection of the Palace Museum, Taipei, illustrated in the Catalogue of a Special Exhibition of Ch’ing Dynasty Monochrome Porcelains in the Palace Museum, Taipei, 1981, cat. no. 1; the second in the Palace Museum, Beijing, published in The Complete Collection of Treasures of the Palace Museum: Monochrome Porcelain, vol. 37, Hong Kong, 1999, pl. 15. Compare also a vase published in Chinese Porcelain, The S.C. Ko Tianminlou Collection, Hong Kong, 1987, pl. 121.

For closely related examples recently sold at auction, see one with an illustrious provenance, most recently in the Wolf family collection, sold in our New York rooms, 22nd April 2023, lot 645; another from the collections of Mr and Mrs John E. Berwind and J.J. Lally & Co., sold at Christie's New York, March 23, 2023, lot 900; and a third example formely in the collection of Stephen Junkunc, III, and later handled by Marchant, sold at Christie's Hong Kong, 30th November 2023, lot 2820.

來源

Arthur Phillips 收藏，坦布里治威爾斯

香港蘇富比1982年11月9日，編號245

鴻禧美術館收藏，台北

展覽

《中國藝術國際展覽會》，皇家藝術學院，倫敦，1935-36年，編號2304

《鴻禧集珍》，中國歷史博物館，北京，1996年，編號31

出版

《鴻禧美術館開館紀念選集》，鴻禧美術館，台北，1990年，頁51

《中國歷代陶瓷選集》，鴻禧美術館，台北，1990年，編號114

銅紅單色釉瓷器在明代永樂、宣德時期日臻完美，然而景德鎮御窰遺址出土大量殘片，側面反映了即便最傑出的宮廷匠人也難以穩定掌握此工藝。宣德之後，銅紅料幾近棄用，直至兩世紀後的清康熙朝方得大規模復興。

所謂「郎窰紅」釉系郎廷極（1663-1715年）任景德鎮督陶官期間（1705-1712年）所創，故名郎窰。在其督導下，御窰工匠試圖重現明初失傳的釉料配方。本品釉色濃艷深邃，口沿與足際呈現自然的燈草邊白痕，釉面隱約可見濃斑肌理，皆為刻意摹仿宣德紅釉的審美特徵。

此件觀音尊釉色精純，器形優雅，為康熙郎窰紅典型代表。可比較數例重要館藏：北京故宮博物院藏兩例，參見《康雍乾宮廷瓷器》，香港1989年，圖版116-117；南京博物院藏帶金屬扣沿一例，見《清康雍乾官窯瓷器》，南京，1995年，編號1；台北故宮博物院藏一例，頸白較多，見《清代單色釉瓷器特展圖錄》，台北，1981年，編號1；北京故宮另藏一例，《故宮博物院藏文物珍品全集：單色釉》，卷37，香港，1999年，圖版15；以及葛士翹舊藏一例，見《天民樓藏瓷》，香港，1987年，圖版121。

亦可參考數件近年市場流通之精品，包括：沃爾夫家族舊藏一件，2023年4月22日售於紐約蘇富比，編號645；Berwind伉儷及藍理捷遞藏一件，2023年3月23日售於紐約佳士得，編號900；以及瓊肯三世舊藏、馬錢特經手之例，2023年11月30日售於香港佳士得，拍品2820。