Title: Ge-type Grey Vase
Period: Qing Dynasty (1644-1911) Qianlong period and mark (1736-1795)
Culture: China
Medium: Porcelain crackled ge-type glaze
Dimensions: H: 10 cm; Diam: 7 cm;
Classification: Ceramics
Artwork Details
Overview
Ge-type Grey Vase
Place of Origin and Period: China, Qianlong period and mark (1736-1795)
This is a flower vase of pear-shaped outline and two tubular handles.
This type of vase is a copy of early Ge ware. In the Qianlong reign, Song dynasty stonewares and particularly the crackled type were highly regarded by the emperor. He collected and commissioned new porcelain with a similar glaze from the imperial kilns.
More like this
The glaze on this small vase, a product of the Jiaotan kiln, shows the dense, dark crackle characteristic of imperially sponsored Guan ware. Crazing occurs accidentally as the fired vessel cools, but the Guan crackle was induced by formulating the glaze to shrink more than the clay body, causing the glaze to fracture. Some Guan wares were made from dark clay that lends its color to the glaze crackle; sometimes, the color of the crackle was also artificially enhanced. The glaze that envelopes Guan ware, applied in several layers, is often thicker than the thin clay body.
The delicate pink in the painting illustrates the development of new colors in the early part of the eighteenth century. Opaque white derived from a lead arsenite, and pale pink tinted with bits of gold were added to the palette and combined with existing colors to create a range of hues.
