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Hu Vase Qianlong period (1736-96) Chinese Market Height: 11 inches; 28cm A Chinese porcelain hu-form vase decorated in underglaze copper red with stylised bats, peaches and scrolling foliage, the shoulder with a band of ruyi, the handles modelled as bats. This vase is of exceptional quality that indicates it was made in the Imperial workshops for the Imperial court. The underglaze copper-red colouring was difficult to use as it relied on small colloids of red copper dissolving out into the overglaze. The process was sensitive to temperature, kiln atmosphere, cooling regime and glaze composition: it required a fluid glaze for the colloids to emerge - but too fluid and the colour diffused widely losing definition and often leaving a green tinge at the edges. The use of copper-arsenic sulphides was first developed in the early 14th century in the Yuan Dynasty but was quickly eclipsed by the use of the cobalt blue, which was much easier to work with. Copper-red was developed further in the Ming period but it was always difficult to obtain a good colour. In the early Qing period the copper-arsenic-sulphides were replaced by oxidised leaded-bronze-lime pigments that had been used initially for the peach bloom glazes in some Kangxi wares.
I cannot bat, cannot bowl and cannot hold a catch. My only merit as a cricketer is that I can remain cheerful when it’s raining. Sir John Squire (1884-1958) in reply to an invitation from Alec Waugh (1898-1981) to play cricket in 1923
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