清乾隆 仿官釉八方貫耳瓶 六字篆書款

Vases of this type from the Qianlong period were applied with both guan-type and ru-type glazes. The National Palace Museum Collection has two such examples, each inscribed on the base with an Imperial poem by the Qianlong Emperor, with lines indicating that these vases functioned as receptacles for flowers (see Obtaining Refined Enjoyment: The Qianlong Emperor’s Taste in Ceramics, Taipei, 2012, pl. 85, 86.) The current vase is covered with a thick, greyish-blue glaze and dressed brown on the feet, in imitation of Song guan wares. In the thirteenth year of the Yongzheng reign (1735), the Superintendent of the Imperial kilns at Jingdezhen,Tang Ying, listed in Taocheng jishi bei ji (Commemorative Stele on Ceramic Production), a number of glazes in imitation of Song wares, including ‘moon-white, pale green and deep green, all copied from ancient pieces sent from the Imperial Palace’. Compare also to a smaller example of this type (13.9 cm.) in the National Palace Museum collection, illustrated in the
Catalogue of a Special Exhibition of Qing Monochromes, Taipei, 1981, p. 149, no. 89.
See a pair of Qianlong guan-type vases from the J.M.Hu collection, sold in Christie's Hong Kong, 29 November 2017, lot 2851.