Vase with flambé glaze, Jingdezhen, China, Qing dynasty, Qianlong period (1736-1795)

This long-necked vase is covered with a deep red glaze suffused with blue streaks. Western writers call this glaze 'flambé', but the potter who created it believed he was imitating the classic Jun ware of the Song dynasty (see p.40). The glaze is described in Chinese texts as 'yaobian', meaning 'changing of colour in the kiln.'

By the eighteenth century Jun wares had become highly prized and there were many pieces in the imperial treasury. The impulse to imitate the ware probably came from the Yongzheng Emperor (reignd 1723-35), who took a personal interest in production at the imperial ceramic factory at Jingdezhen. Although Jingdezhen potters knew that the red was derived from copper, they would not have known the exact formula used by Jun potters 600 or 700 years earlier and they arrived at a substantially different glaze recipe. The dazzling streaks here were created by copper flicked or blown onto the surface, resulting in an uneven, dappled effect. Towards the mid-eighteenth century cobalt was sometimes added, no doubt to enhance the blue of the streaks. The glaze round the mouth has reoxidized to a translucent pale green.

Flambé glazes fascinated French and British ceramists if the late nineteenth century - to the extent that in 1882 a French diplomat collected raw materials and recipes from Jingdezhen and had them examined at Sévres. They inspired the glaze effects of both Auguste Delaherche (1857-1940; see p.123) and the pioneer English 'art potter' Bernard Moore (1850-1935).

Salting Bequest

Bequeathed by Mr. George Salting, accessioned in 1910. This acquisition information reflects that found in the Asia Department registers, as part of a 2022 provenance research project.

A type of copper red glaze is known as a flambé glaze. Unlike other red glazes it contains lead. This 'flamed' glaze is also called a 'transmutation glaze', this being a translation of the Chinese term yao bian - furnace transmutation or changing of colour in the kiln. Flambé glazes were much admired in Europe. The streaked or variegated effect of the glaze as seen in this vase is nothing to do with firing control; it is caused spontaneously as a result of particular glaze designs and the way they react when fired in the kiln.

C.397-1910