A BLUE GLAZED ALTAR VESSEL 'DENG' China, Guangxu mark and period the rounded bowl supported on a columnar base encircled with a raised band and terminating in a flared pedestal foot, surmounted by a fitted domed cover with globular knop, molded with bands of archaistic design in crisp, shallow relief, and applied overall with a lustrous blue glaze, the interior and base white-glazed, the six-character mark incised in a line inside the foot . Property from a North German private collection, since 1957 in the family The stembowl and cover, modeled after a Zhou dynasty bronze prototype, would have formed part of an altar set comprising two dou and a fu. The present piece would have been used in state rituals, for which different colors of vessels were designated for use at different sites Cover with small chip inside at the rim, the stand with very short hairline