Vase “Red Ruby” China, second half of the 19th - early 20th centuries. Porcelain, sang de boeuf glaze.

The vase presented for examination is an example of Chinese artistic porcelain from the end of the imperial period, an example of a group of monochrome porcelain with colored glaze, one of the most technologically complex and revered since the beginning of the 15th century. The vase is made of porcelain, the spherical body stands on a pronounced ring-shaped foot, the long cylindrical neck widens slightly towards the rim. The product is glazed in one color, which corresponds to the monochrome family in the traditional classification of Chinese porcelain. Based on the color of the glaze, the vase belongs to the “ox blood” group, fr. - sang de boeuf (San de boeuf: families of Chinese porcelain have traditionally been assigned French names among collectors, since France was the largest importer of Chinese porcelain in the 18th century). In China, the color was called zihong, or “sacrificial beauty,” and its earliest versions were also called “fresh red” or “ruby red.” Thick and intense in color on the body, the red glaze becomes lighter at the throat and almost loses color, becoming barely yellowish towards the rim. The glassy colored coating is dotted with thin cracks and craquelures, almost invisible in the dark glaze and well expressed in light areas.