Flambé

Flambé was a Qing innovation which came about through the Yongzheng emperors interest in various aspects of antiquity. In 1727 the Jingdezhen potters were commissioned by the court in Beijing to re-create the famous classical Jun wares of the Song period.

The potters at the official workshops were challenged to experiment with new techniques and styles. They came up with shapes, clearly influenced by archaic bronze vessels and a new ware on a porcelain body using three distinctly different glazes, one for the blue inside, one for the red outside and a third for the brownish green applied within the foot-rims. The Iridescent blue, purple, or brown splashes and streaks characteristic of this glaze are described as yao bian, or “transmutation glaze” and resulting from transmutation of colloidal copper, iron, or other metallic materials into suffusions breaking up the glaze surface. Reference: Gotheborg

Below are some examples, information and price guides to Flambé antiques with butterflies in their design including an ovoid vase painted by Kashosai Ujichika and a Wedgwood Fairyland Lustre trumpet vase.