A fine celadon-glazed 'floral' mallow-form washer, Seal mark and period of Qianlong

California Private Collection, acquired in Hong Kong in the 1980s.

Veiled with a luminous celadon glaze, the present washer, with its harmonious combination of form, carving and design, is a characteristic imperial product of the Qianlong period - a period when the expectations on a piece of porcelain were set to the highest level, with every aspect of a vessel precisely calculated and planned but, at the same time, endowed with a sense of effortless elegance.

During the early Qing dynasty, the Qing emperors' affinity for the past influenced and dictated the aesthetic taste of the imperial wares that were produced in Jingdezhen. Well-known for his appreciation of past traditions including his admiration of Longquan celadon wares of the Song period, the Qianlong Emperor encouraged innovative approaches towards celadon-glazed wares produced in his imperial kiln. The present washer combines the celadon glaze inspired by the Song dynasty with the mallow form seen on washers of the same period. For a Song prototype, see a lobed Guan washer, in the National Palace Museum, Taipei, included in the exhibition Kuan Ware of the Southern Sung Dynasty, Book I, Part II, Taipei, 1962, cat. no. 41; and another from the Percival David Collection, now in the British Museum, London (accession no. PDF,A.53) and exhibited in Illustrated Catalogue of Ru, Guan, Jun, Guangdong and Yixing Wares, London, 1999, cat. no. 29.

For a closely related celadon-glazed washer of Qianlong mark and period, also decorated with lotus flowers, see one sold in our Hong Kong rooms, 8th October 2008, lot 2501.