A CHINESE TEA-DUST GLAZED BOTTLE VASE

A CHINESE TEA-DUST GLAZED BOTTLE VASE
SIX CHARACTER QIANLONG SEAL MARK AND OF THE PERIOD 1736-95

The compressed circular body raised on a splayed foot, and with a tall cylindrical neck, covered overall with an even flecked olive-green tea-dust glaze, 32cm.

Cf. R Kerr, Chinese Ceramics, Porcelain of the Qing Dynasty 1644-1911, pl.25, for a similar vase in the Victoria and Albert Museum, London. For other closely related vases of this type, see Christie’s New York, 21st September 2000, lot 377 for an example formerly in the collection of the Cleveland Museum of Art, and Sotheby’s London, 9th June 2004, lot 11, for another formerly in the Toguri Collection.

Although the origin of the tea-dust glaze is uncertain, it was during Yongzheng's reign that the repertoire of the Jingdezhen imperial kilns was expanded to include a wide variety of glazes for which evocative names, such as 'tea-dust', were devised.

清乾隆 茶葉末釉荸薺瓶 《大清乾隆年製》篆書刻款