Qianlong style blue and white underglaze red cloud dragon pattern celestial sphere bottle

[Qianlong Blue and White Glazed Red Cloud Dragon Pattern Skyball Bottle]

Qianlong Blue and White Glazed Red Cloud Dragon Pattern Skyball Bottle, Qing Qianlong, height 47 cm, caliber 10.7 cm, foot diameter 15.5 cm
The bottle has a straight mouth, a long neck, a rounded belly, and rounded feet. The interior is painted with white glaze, and the exterior wall is painted with blue and white, and underglaze red with clouds and dragons sailing out to sea. On the outsole, there are six characters and three lines in blue and white seal script “made in the Qianlong period of the Qing Dynasty”
The Tianqiu bottle was an innovative device of Jingdezhen kiln during the Yongle and Xuande periods of the Ming Dynasty. Mostly decorated with blue and white. During the Yongzheng and Qianlong periods of the Qing Dynasty, blue and white underglaze red, doucai, and pastel were also fired. This bottle has a stable and dignified shape, which is a common shape in official kiln porcelain during the Qianlong period. The pattern drawing method draws on the expression form of “three appearances of the dragon’s body in the clouds” often used during the Shunzhi period of the Qing Dynasty. The dragon’s body only shows three segments, and the other parts are covered by floating clouds. Therefore, it is called “one body three appearances”, which indeed has the feeling of “clouds follow the dragon”. This type of patchy cloud pattern was most popular during the Shunzhi period. During the Kangxi period, it was also commonly used, but during the Qianlong period, the pictures were more realistic.

雍正款青花釉里红云龙纹天球瓶款识