AN INSCRIBED 'ODE TO THE RED CLIFF' FAMILLE VERTE ROULEAU VASE China. The recessed base with a six-character underglaze-blue mark da Qing Kangxi nianzhi within a double circle and possibly of the period (1662-1722).

The cylindrical body rising to a tall, ribbed neck with a galleried rim, brightly and finely painted in famille verte enamels to one side with a rectangular panel enclosing a scene depicting the poet Su Shi and his companion seated at a table enjoying wine under the canopy of a sampan, an oarsman at the stern guiding the boat towards the famed overhanging red cliff, the reverse inscribed with verses from the Qian Chibi fu ('First Ode to the Red Cliff').

Provenance: A notable private collector in Kensington, London, United Kingdom. Sotheby's London, Important Chinese Art, 3 November 2021, lot 171, bought in at an estimate of GBP 100,000-150,000 and described as A MAGNIFICENT AND VERY RARE INSCRIBED FAMILLE-VERTE 'ODE TO THE RED CLIFF' ROULEAU VASE, MARK AND PERIOD OF KANGXI
Condition: Excellent condition with some wear, shallow surface scratches and firing flaws, including pitting, glaze recesses, and scattered dark spots. The neck is slightly leaning. Two small, smoothened chips to the foot rim, possibly originated at the time of firing.

Weight: 3,670 g
Dimensions: Height 46.2 cm

The vase illustrates the text from the famous rhapsody First Ode to the Red Cliff, composed by the celebrated Northern Song poet, Su Shi (1037-96), to commemorate his boating excursions with friends to the Red Cliff (Chibi) in Hubei province during his political exile. It describes the poet and friends riding on a river beneath the purported site of an important battle in AD 208, between the forces of Northern General Cao Cao and Liu Bei, scion of the Han dynasty (206 BC-AD 220), who dreamt of reuniting China under a reinvigorated Han. Having himself been ousted from political life, Cao's success at the time reminds him of the short-lived nature of great careers and the transience of life.

Literature comparison: Compare two blue-and-white square vases of a related subject matter, both inscribed with the First and Second Odes to the Red Cliff of Su Shi and illustrating related scenes; one preserved in the Shanghai Museum, illustrated in Kangxi Porcelain Wares from the Shanghai Museum Collection, Hong Kong, 1998, pl.31; the other included in the exhibition Chinese Porcelains of the Seventeenth Century: Landscapes, Scholars' Motifs and Narratives, China Institute Gallery, New York, 1995, cat. no. 26, with the translation of the two odes included in the exhibition catalog, pp. 159-160.

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硬彩《前赤壁賦》詩文棒槌瓶
中國，棒槌瓶圈足内青花雙圈“大清康熙年製“款，或爲該年代。

棒槌瓶盤口，短直頸，圓折肩，圓筒狀長腹，圈足。瓶身通體施以五彩，從瓶口至器物底部畫工繁密，其中腹部開光描繪蘇軾乘船游赤壁，兩岸松林掩映，詩人與其友人蕩舟於赤壁山水之間。另一面則寫有楷書《前赤壁賦》詩句，字體工整。

來源：英國倫敦肯辛頓知名私人收藏；倫敦蘇富比2021年 11月 3日 Important Chinese Art ，lot 171, 估價 GBP 100,000-150,000 ，描述為 ” 清康熙 五彩前赤壁賦圖詩文棒槌瓶 《大清康熙年製》款“。
品相：品相極好，有一些磨損、表面輕微劃痕，燒製缺陷，包括點蝕、釉面凹陷和散落的黑點。頸部微微傾斜。圈足上有兩個小而平滑的磕損部位，可能是在燒製時產生的。

重量：3,670 克
尺寸：高46.2 厘米

文獻比較：比較兩件相近的《前赤壁賦》和《後赤壁賦》詩文青花方瓶，一件見上海博物館藏，《康熙瓷圖錄》，香港， 1998年，頁31。 另一件展於China Institute Gallery ，Chinese Porcelains of the Seventeenth Century: Landscapes, Scholars'Motifs and Narratives，紐約，1995年，圖錄編號26；詩文翻譯見頁159-160。