Peachbloom-glazed willow leaf-shaped vase (liu ye ping)

This is a small willow leaf-shaped vase (liu ye ping) with a flaring mouth, a waisted neck, slanting shoulders, a tapering body and a concave base. Once serving as an ornament in the Kangxi court, this type of vase is named after its slender profile, which resembles a willow leaf. The exterior of this small vase is thinly covered with a peachbloom (jiang dou hong) glaze down to the base. Peachbloom is a type of glaze developed in the Kangxi reign of the Qing dynasty as a result of attempts to imitate the red-glazed wares made in the Xuande reign of the Ming dynasty. The color is soft and elegant, like that of a peachbloom. Sometimes the color is variegated and there are green mottles in the glaze. The glaze on this vase seems to have faded and appears yellowish with a considerable number of green mottles. The outside of the base is unglazed, exposing the white body. The inside mouth is also glazed in peachbloom while the mouthrim is in a white glaze. The rest of the interior is unglazed. The white glazed bottom of the concave base contains a reign mark da qing kang xi nian meaning Made during the Kangxi Reign of the Great Qing in two columns and in an underglaze blue. According to a book titled gu wan zhi nan (Guide of Chinese Antiques) written in 1942 by Zhao Ruzhen, a prestigious modern connoisseur, antique peachbloom vessels are usually covered with a thick and lustrous layer of glaze; however, later copies are thinly and roughly glazed. Green mottles on the antique peachbloom vessels appear glossy, fine and smooth, but green mottles on later copies appear either too green or black. As to this small willow leaf-shaped vase, it is covered with a thin and rough layer of peachbloom glaze. The green mottles on it seem to be 'too green' and deliberately rendered. Therefore, it is evident that this piece is a later copy of the Kangxi products