Auction Information

Description

The garlic vase has an elegant shape, a long neck hanging over the shoulders, and a round drum like garlic shape near the edge of the mouth. It is one of the most prominent official porcelain shapes in history and was popular in the Ming and Qing dynasties. The porcelain vases made by the imperial kilns in the Qing Dynasty were mostly display or floral vessels. The garlic shaped bottle had a closed mouth, making it suitable for decorating single branch flowers or fruity branches, just like the folded flowers and fruits depicted on the same bottle body. The pattern is decorated with blue and white dots and hooks, with deep and vibrant colors at the accumulation area, imitating the famous iron spot effect of early Ming blue and white porcelain. Emperor Qianlong ordered the Jingdezhen Imperial Kiln to produce imitations of Ming porcelain. Although this type of garlic vase was intangible and perfectly matched the early Ming Dynasty precedent, similar broken branch patterns can be seen in Yongle official porcelain, mostly consisting of six or eight groups with different sizes. See "Complete Collection of Chinese Ceramics", Volume 12, Shanghai, 1999-2000, Plate 12, Yongle Plum Vase in the collection of the Palace Museum in Beijing. At this time, the pattern of broken branches, flowers, and fruits is more common in vases, and there are few examples of bowls. One of them was sold on October 7, 2015 at Sotheby's in Hong Kong, with the number 3606. Since the Yongle era, broken branches, flowers, and fruits have remained a common decorative pattern in official porcelain, symbolizing longevity and many children. However, they are often decorated in porcelain bowls, such as a Xuande kiln hat style bowl, published in Kang Ruijun's "Mei Yin Tang Chinese Ceramics", London, 1994, Volume 2, No. 671. It was not until the Qing Dynasty that the broken branches, flowers, and fruits were replicated in vases. Although the origin of the garlic shaped bottle mouth is unknown, this vessel should be made of ancient bronze teapots, and its mouth is also similar to garlic shaped. See Su Fangshu's "Eastern Zhou Ritual Bronzes from the Arthur M. Sackler Collections", Volume 3, New York, 1995, No. 52, dating back to the Eastern Zhou Dynasty, late Warring States period, 4th to 3rd century BC, with slightly tilted legs, longer neck, and shorter belly. Based on this, the shape of the garlic bottle in the Ming Dynasty was more similar to that of a bronze prototype, while in the Qing Dynasty, the shape became more elegant, catering to the beauty of the dynasty. This blue and white garlic bottle was first seen during the Yongzheng Dynasty, such as an example sold on November 29, 1978 at Sotheby's in Hong Kong, numbered 234, and became popular until the end of the Qing Dynasty. Compared to the Jiaqing Dynasty, it was collected at the Palace Museum in Beijing and recorded in the Complete Collection of Cultural Relics and Treasures of the Palace Museum - Blue and White Glazed Red (Part 2), Hong Kong, 2000, plate 145; There is also an example of Guan Shanming's collection of Daoguang, which was exhibited in "Guan's Collection of Late Qing Official Kiln Porcelain" at the Cultural Relics Museum of the Chinese University of Hong Kong, Hong Kong, 1983, No. 1. Garlic bottles also have monochromatic glazes applied, such as green glaze, tea powder glaze, alum red, moon white, etc. A Qianlong kiln imitation Ru glazed garlic bottle was sold on October 8, 2013 at Sotheby's in Hong Kong, with the number 3120. Museum Collection Similar to Qianlong Blue and White Garlic Vase: Collection of Taipei Palace Museum, recorded in "Palace Museum Porcelain Collection", Hong Kong, 1968, plates 5a, 5b, 5c; Collection of Beijing Capital Museum, published in "Complete Collection of Chinese Ceramics", Volume 15: Qing (Part 2), Shanghai, 1999, No. 8, and collection of Nanjing Museum, published in "Chinese Qing Dynasty Official Kiln Porcelain", Shanghai, 2003, page 211. Sotheby's Hong Kong sold a similar example, number 225, on November 19, 1986, and another example was sold at Sotheby's New York on March 3, 2006