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AN IMPORTANT AND MASSIVE BLUE AND WHITE 'SCROLLING FLOWERS' VASE Yongzheng six-character seal mark and of the period image 1
AN IMPORTANT AND MASSIVE BLUE AND WHITE 'SCROLLING FLOWERS' VASE Yongzheng six-character seal mark and of the period image 2
AN IMPORTANT AND MASSIVE BLUE AND WHITE 'SCROLLING FLOWERS' VASE Yongzheng six-character seal mark and of the period image 3
AN IMPORTANT AND MASSIVE BLUE AND WHITE 'SCROLLING FLOWERS' VASE Yongzheng six-character seal mark and of the period image 4
AN IMPORTANT AND MASSIVE BLUE AND WHITE 'SCROLLING FLOWERS' VASE Yongzheng six-character seal mark and of the period image 5
AN IMPORTANT AND MASSIVE BLUE AND WHITE 'SCROLLING FLOWERS' VASE Yongzheng six-character seal mark and of the period image 6
AN IMPORTANT AND MASSIVE BLUE AND WHITE 'SCROLLING FLOWERS' VASE Yongzheng six-character seal mark and of the period image 7
AN IMPORTANT AND MASSIVE BLUE AND WHITE 'SCROLLING FLOWERS' VASE Yongzheng six-character seal mark and of the period image 8
PROPERTY FROM A DISTINGUISHED AMERICAN FAMILY
Lot 22

AN IMPORTANT AND MASSIVE BLUE AND WHITE 'SCROLLING FLOWERS' VASE
Yongzheng six-character seal mark and of the period

Amended
Important Chinese Ceramics and Works of Art
15 September 2025, 09:00 EDT
New York

Sold for US$914,900 inc. premium

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AN IMPORTANT AND MASSIVE BLUE AND WHITE 'SCROLLING FLOWERS' VASE

Yongzheng six-character seal mark and of the period
Superbly painted in Ming-style 'heaping and piling' in rich, cobalt blue, the body and neck with a dense network of flowerheads including camellia, lotus, peony, hibiscus joined to radiating leafy stems enclosed by elaborate lappet bands at the shoulder and near a flared foot banded with turbulent waves, the gently tapered shoulder accented by raised keyfret and floral spray bands under a scrolling ruyi-head meander, the flared neck set off by an elegant complex cloud-collar and composite flowerhead band at the rim, the six-character Yongzheng seal mark inscribed to the base.

27in (68.7cm) high; 9 1/8in (223.2cm) mouth; 9 1/2in (24.2cm) base

Footnotes

View this in your room

清雍正 《大清雍正年製》篆書款 青花纏枝花卉紋大鳳尾尊

Provenance
From a Distinguished American Family

來源：
美國重要家族珍藏

This vase represents the height of innovation and grand scale that has become synonymous with the work of the Jingdezhen masters under the direction of Tang Ying in the Yongzheng period. The stunning elegance and variety in the shoulder and neck bandings show a sophistication that was the hallmark of this genius who entered the Imperial Household at the age of 16 where he excelled in painting, calligraphy and poetry. Exposed to the decorative arts and introduced to Western elements of design and scientific innovations brought by the Jesuits, he brought this sophisticated sensibility to his new role in 1723 as Vice-Director of the Imperial Household and in charge of the artisans in the Imperial ateliers. Upon the ascendency of Yongzheng, he was sent to be the assistant of Nian Xiyao at the Imperial Kilns in Jingdezhen where his influence was immediately seen in the stunning new variety of shapes, scale and design elements seen in the top pieces produced for the Imperial Court.

This magnificent vase is one of three examples of this size known to date with a combination of scrolling flower heads on the main body and neck. The design of the ruyi-collar on the trumpet neck appears to be unique, and the richness of the cobalt blue is a stunning feature of this magnificent vessel. See two other closely related vases, one sold at Sotheby's Hong Kong, 29 November 1977, lot 201; the other sold in those rooms, 3 October 2018, lot 103. Each has distinctive differences in the decorative band motifs used to embellish the surface, a testimony to the new vocabulary of design combinations employed under the genius of Tang Ying.

A small group of underglaze blue examples with distinctively different main body decorations can be found in museum collections. See two vases in the Taipei Palace Museum (coll. no. 中瓷001531N000000000 and 中瓷002194N000000000), the first with peach branches, the other with pomegranate sprays on the main body decoration under floral sprays at the neck. See one decorated with interlocking lotus and Eight Precious Emblems in The Palace Museum, Beijing, published in The Complete Treasures of the Palace Museum, Blue and White Porcelain with Underglaze Red (III), no. 88, p.102, and another with main body decoration of dragons among peonies, op. cit., no. 89, p. 103. A closely related example with dragon decoration was sold at Christie's Hong Kong, 27 April 1997, lot 76.

Saleroom notices

Please note the additional provenance information for this lot:
请注意本拍品有补充来源信息：

From a distinguished American family, acquired in the 1960s and thence by descent through two generations.
美國重要家族珍藏，1960年代購入後經兩代人傳承

Please also note the size of the mouth in centimeters should read 23.2cm.
再者，瓶口尺寸應為23.2厘米

Additional information

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