K14 A mirror black glazed baluster vase, Kangxi

Description

Description:   Chinese porcelain baluster vase of big size, covered with a lustrous mirror black glaze. This glaze, a mix of iron, cobalt and manganese oxides, was invented during the Kangxi period.  It is called wujin (black bronze) in China and this vase is a superb period example for its quality.

Dating:  Kangxi period.

Size:  41 cm high

Provenance:  Antiquarian market.

References:

Notes:  From: William F. Collins, “The Mirror-Black and “Quicksilver” Patinas of Certain Chinese Bronzes”, The Journal of the Royal Anthropological Institute of Great Britain and Ireland, Vol. 64 (Jan. – Jun., 1934), pp. 69-79: “On a class of Chinese bronzes there has developed a lustrous black coloration or patina much admired by the collectors and considered by many to be an infallible indication of antiquity. So highly prized among the Chinese have been objects bearing this surface, known to them as “black lacquer” patina, that their potters made great efforts to imitate it on porcelain. During the K’ang Hsi period these efforts were crowned with success in the production of a glaze known to Europeans as “mirror black” on account presumably of the close resemblance to the patina found on ancient mirrors.”