A PALE-BLUE-GLAZED RU-TYPE MALLET VASE Yongzheng underglaze blue four-character seal mark and o...

A PALE-BLUE-GLAZED RU-TYPE MALLET VASE
Yongzheng underglaze blue four-character seal mark and of the period
With tall slightly waisted cylindrical neck with elongated C-shaped formalized animal handles and cup-shaped mouth above a low rounded shoulder and slightly tapering cylindrical body with inward tapering foot with biscuit foot rim and glazed flat base with seal mark neck, all under a pale blue glaze that pools slightly more darkly at the bow-string band below the shoulder and at the foot.

6 5/8in (16.7cm) high
Footnotes:
雍正 雍正青花四字篆書款 仿汝釉雙耳棒槌瓶

Created in imitation of the celebrated Ru-wares of the Song period, this vase reflects the Yongzheng Emperor's penchant for these early wares and the remarkable technical developments achieved at the Imperial kilns and made to meet the specific taste of the emperor. While a delicate celadon glaze had already been developed in the Kangxi reign, it was during the Yongzheng period that the production of glazes imitating Song dynasty Ru and Guan wares greatly expanded. According to the 1732 edition of the Jiangxi Tongzhi (Jiangxi provincial gazetteer), compiled by Xie Min, governor of Jiangxi Province between 1729 and 1732, two different types of Ru-type glazes were developed, one displaying a subtle network of crackles and the other of even tone; see S.W. Bushell, Oriental Ceramic Art, London, 1981, p.195.

See an identical Ru-type vase of smaller size (5in high) with Yongzheng mark sold at Bonhams London, The Marsh Collection, Art for the Literati, 3 November 2022, lot 8.

See also another sold at Christie's Paris, 8 December 2021, lot 184; and another similar vase was sold at Christie's Paris, 23 June 2020, lot 128.