Proof of Excellence

Jingdezhen, 1810 – 1870
Height: 4.24 cm
Mouth/lip: 0.60/1.02 cm
Stopper: tourmaline; gilt-bronze collar

Provenance:
Margaret Pollock Collection, San Francisco
Robert Kleiner, February 2008
Hugh Moss (HK) Ltd.

 

Green, black, and iron-red enamel on colourless and beige glaze; in the form of a wine jar with a flat foot surrounded by a convex foot rim; moulded in relief and painted to simulate a woven container with two loop handles, the jar inscribed in iron-red regular script with the name of the wine, Zhuangyuan hong 狀元紅 (‘Optimus Red’), and the brewer’s mark Derun zhengji 德潤徵記 (‘Virtue-Rich Proof of Excellence’).

Alexander Whittaker