QIANLONG SIX-CHARACTER SEAL MARK AND OF THE PERIOD (1736-1795)

Monochrome ceremonial jars of this shape (zun) along with other vessel shapes, dou, gui, and fu, were made for use during ceremonies on the altars of various temples during the Qing dynasty. Margaret Medley discusses these vessels and their different monochrome colors in 'The "Illustrated Regulations for Ceremonial Paraphernalia of the Ch'ing Dynasty" in the Victoria and Albert Museum', T.O.C.S., vol. 31, 1957-59, pp. 95-104. The vessels covered in a dark blue glaze, "symbolic of the Dome of Heaven," were made for the Tiantan, Temple of Heaven, and Medley writes that zun were the rarest, as only one was made for each altar. She notes that a dark blue example of the Qianlong period is in the British Museum, and mentions two others in the Salting Collection in the Victoria and Albert Museum, one covered in iron red, made for the Chaoritan, Altar of the Sun, illustrated by Medley, pl. 41a, the other in a very pale blue, perhaps made for the Xiyuetan, Altar of the Moon, both illustrated by R. Kerr (ed.), Chinese Art and Design, Victoria and Albert Museum, 1991, pl. 88.

A blue-glazed Jiaqing-marked example in the Weishaupt Collection is illustrated by G. Avitable, From the Dragon's Treasure, London, 1987, pp. 20-21, fig. 3, and another was sold at Christie's Hong Kong, 20 May 2005, lot 1250.