Notes

LOT ESSAY The present vase takes its form from the auspicious hulu (double gourd). When rendered as a hollow vessel, this shape is commonly known as a hulu ping and is traditionally associated with the flasks carried by Daoist Immortals as containers for elixirs believed to confer longevity and perpetual youth. A closely related tea-dust-glazed example is illustrated by R. Krahl in Chinese Ceramics from the Meiyintang Collection, London, 1994, vol. 2, no. 938. Another comparable vase was included in the exhibition National Treasures: Gems of China’s Cultural Relics, Hong Kong Museum of Art, 16 December 1997–1 March 1998, pp. 352–53, where it is noted that tea-dust glazes were first produced in the Tang dynasty, with early wares associated with the Yaozhou kilns. In the Ming and Qing dynasties, tea-dust-glazed wares were revived at the Jingdezhen imperial kilns, where the glaze was known as Changguan glaze. Technically, the glaze is achieved by suspending iron and magnesium-bearing colorants in the glaze slurry and applying it to the body before a single high-temperature firing. The resulting surface typically appears yellow-green, accented by irregular yellow speckling: depending on its tone and texture, it has been variously likened to “tea-leaf dust,” “eel-skin yellow,” or “crab-shell green,” terms that have long served as descriptive names for this glaze family.