Page 124 - 2020 December 10 Christie's Paris Arts of Asia Chinese Art

A RARE IMPERIAL ENAMELLED

CUP AND SAUCER

Rosemary Scott, Senior International Academic Consultant, Asian Art

T his very rare high-footed cup has, unusually, been preserved with by engravings, and it is likely that this is the case with the design on the current
vessels. The main panel depicts the mythological Goddess Cybele, in a chariot
saucer.
its
its
both
and
cover
made
of
copper
are
All
three
pieces
and have been extremely skilfully enamelled using the full range of
drawn by lions, being offered a laurel wreath by a peasant woman. Cybele was
colours available to 18th century Chinese craftsmen. Two cups and saucers a goddess of ancient origins, who is associated with Phrygia in Anatolia, where
bearing the same design are in the collection of the Victoria and Albert she appears to already have been regarded as a Mother figure, and in a 6th
Museum, London (fig.1.). These bear museum numbers C.39&A-1962 (see century BCE inscription is designated matar kubileya, ‘Mother of the Mountain’.
http://collections.vam.ac.uk/item/O40723/cup-and-saucer-unknown/) and Between the 6th and the 4th centuries BCE worship of Cybele spread from
C.31&A-1969 (part of the W.E. Clark bequest, see http://collections.vam. Anatolia and Syria to Crete, other Aegean islands, and to mainland Greece.
ac.uk/item/O436908/cup-and-saucer-unknown/). Interestingly, while the Cybele was worshipped by the Greek population of Alexandria as ‘Mother of
V&A saucers appear to be identical to the current example – in both size and the Gods, the Saviour who Hears our Prayers’ and as ‘Mother of the Gods, the
decoration - the cups are of less elaborate shape. The Victoria and Albert cups Accessible One’. It is interesting to note that these names are similar to those
have a lower foot and do not have the more everted and dished mouth of the given to the Buddhist deity Avalokitesvara or Guanyin.
current cup. The dished mouth holds the cover of the current cup in place and
it is noteworthy that the Victoria and Albert Museum cups do not have covers. Cybele is often depicted with a tympanum or tympanon - a type of frame
The cover of the current cup complements it particularly well and the gilded drum or tambourine, which could be played using the hand or stick. She is also
finial adds further luxury to an already sumptuous design. usually accompanied by two lions, either seated on either side of her throne or
pulling her chariot, as on the current vessels. According to mythology, these
A further saucer of the same size and design from the Mottahedeh Collection lions were Atalanta and Hippomenes who were turned into lions by the gods
was illustrated by J.A. Lloyd Hyde in Chinese Painted Enamels from Private and as a punishment for desecrating a temple. In the early 3rd century BCE a cult
Museum Collections, New York, 1969, no. 19. This publication dates the saucer, object said to embody Cybele as the Great Mother was removed from Anatolia
which was formerly in the collection of C.T. Loo, Paris, to the Yongzheng reign to Rome and her cult was adopted there. In the reign of the Roman Emperor
(1723-1735), while the Victoria and Albert Museum dates their cups and Augustus (63 BCE-14 CE) Cybele was particularly honoured and her temple,
saucers to 1730-1745 – a period covering the end of the Yongzheng reign and which was next to the imperial palace on the Palatine Hill, was restored. In
the early years of the Qianlong reign (1736-1795). It is clear that these vessels Roman mythology Cybele was known as Magna Mater deorum Idaea (Great
are of the highest quality and were made when enamel decoration was at its Idaean Mother of the Gods).
apogee in China. The quality and variety of the enamels themselves and the
consummate skill with which they have been painted also mark them out as As is pointed out in an online note from the Victoria and Albert Museum in
products of the imperial workshops in Beijing. relation to their similar cup and saucer, despite the origins of their decoration,
these vessels were not intended for the western market, but reflected a
The decoration on the current covered cup and saucer, as well as those in the fascination with European style at the Chinese court – Occidentalism - a
Victoria and Albert Museum and the Mottahedeh collection, is European- counterpart to the vogue for Asian styles which swept Europe. European
inspired – from the complex, and beautifully painted, millefleurs borders to the figures and scenes appear on a number of imperial enamelled wares of the
mythological scenes within the decorative panels. A number of the European second quarter of the 18th century with metal and with porcelain bases.
scenes which appear on Chinese porcelain and metalware are clearly inspired Panels of this type decorate imperial cloisonne enamel wares preserved in
the Chinese imperial collections, such as those illustrated Enamel Ware in
the Ming and Ch’ing Dynasties, Taipei, 1999, nos. 37, 38, 40, and 41. European
figures also appear in panels on either side of a small porcelain double-gourd
vase in the collection of the Palace Museum, Beijing (see The Complete
Collection of Treasures of the Palace Museum – 39 – Porcelains with Cloisonne
Enamel Decoration and Famille Rose Decoration, Hong King, 1999, p. 42, no.
35). Finely-painted European genre scenes can also be seen on two fine oval
boxes in the collection of Pierre Uldry, illustrated by H. Brinker and A. Lutz
in Chinese Cloisonné: The Pierre Uldry Collection, Zurich, New York, London,
1989, no. 288. An exquisite porcelain vase from the collection of Sir Percival
David also bears a scene of two European ladies (inv. No. PDF A818, see
Illustrated Catalogue of Qing Enamelled Wares in the Percival David Foundation,
London, 1991, p. 50). As can be seen on this latter vase, and on the current
metal-bodied vessels, the gilding on this group is often of particularly high
standard. The current vessels are extremely rare examples of this prestigious
group.

fig.1. © Victoria and Albert Museum, London.

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