Page 156 - Christie's IMPORTANT CHINESE Ceramics and Works of Art may 28 2021 hk

PURITY AND BRILLIANCE:

A SELECTION FROM THE ZHUYUETANG

COLLECTION

Rosemary Scott, Senior International Academic Consultant Asian Art

In his Introduction to the catalogue Shimmering Colours – Monochromes in the field of collecting. These acquaintances included Dr T.T. Tsui,
of the Yuan to Qing Periods: The Zhuyuetang Collection, Hong Kong, 2005, who in 1995 proposed him as a member of the prestigious Min Chiu
the creator of the Zhuyuetang Collection, Richard Kan, describes Society of Hong Kong, where he could engage in discussions with other
having ‘indulged myself in the study and collection of artefacts and objets knowledgeable collectors. Mr Kan has also stated that he was privileged
d’art’ for some thirty years. That time has now stretched to more than to know the two great scholars of Chinese ceramics Professor Geng
forty years. He also acknowledges that within his collection, which Baochang from Beijing, and the late Professor Wang Qingzheng, from
includes various media from different cultures, Chinese monochrome Shanghai. He credits them with major contributions to his own learning
porcelains are his ‘absolute favourite’. To elucidate his reasons for this curve in the field.
preference he emphasises the purity of monochrome wares and the
high regard in which they were held in antiquity. Mr Kan notes the Mr Kan is especially cognisant of the writings of the great Qing dynasty
moral value accorded to purity by such ancient works as the Lunyu ( 論 ceramicist and supervisor of the Chinese Imperial kilns, Tang Ying ( 唐
語 Analects of Confucius), and cites the Ciyuan ( 辭源 Etymology) 英 1682–1756). One text has been of particular inspiration. This is the
as defining purity in terms of unity and lack of contamination. This Taocheng jishi bei ji ( 陶成紀事碑記 Commemorative Stele on Ceramic
devotion to single-coloured ceramics has, in turn, led Mr Kan to amass Production), written by Tang Ying in 1735 on the eve of his departure
one of the finest collections of Chinese monochromes in private hands. from Jingdezhen to take up the post of Superintendent of the Huai’an
Having known him for some thirty years, the current writer can attest Customs. Amongst the wealth of information included in this text,
to his unstinting passion for the study and collection of exceptional almost forty different monochrome glazes are listed. Some of these
monochrome ceramics. are very rare and Mr Kan has managed to encompass a significant
proportion of them within his collection. The current sale includes not
Many pieces in the collection have been acquired at auction, including only spectacular classic glaze colours, such as the Yongzheng sacrificial
items from various distinguished international collections. The iron- blue meiping (Lot 2989) and the Yongzheng copper red stem bowl
rust glazed censer in the current sale (Lot 2996) was acquired from (Lot 2991), but also a pair of Yongzheng deep aubergine dishes with
the Edward T. Chow collection in 1980, while the pair of clair de lune an incised design of the Eight Treasures (Lot 2992) and a Qianlong
dishes (Lot 2986) came from the T. Y. Chow collection in 1986, and rectangular section vase (Lot 2993) with so-called flambé glaze (yaobian
the Yongzheng celadon-glazed dish (Lot 2987) was acquired from 窯變 in Chinese), which was inspired by the splashed Jun wares of the
the collection of Professor E.T. Hall in 2000. Mr Kan and his wife Song and Jin dynasties.
Josephine had the opportunity to visit Professor and Mrs Hall at their
home near Oxford and were able to see their monochrome porcelains, While the majority of the ceramics in the Zhuyuetang Collection date
in spectacular displays arranged by glaze colour. to the Ming and Qing dynasties, a smaller number of monochromes
from earlier dynasties, including the Song and Yuan, have been included
In his Preface to another important catalogue - A Millennium of – not least to demonstrate the origins of technological expertise and of
Monochromes from the Great Tang to the High Qing – The Baur and the scholarly admiration for high-fired single-coloured glazes. Two such
Zhuyuetang Collections, Geneva, 2018 – Mr Kan recalls his interest in pieces are included in the current sale: a rare Song dynasty white Ding
Chinese monochromes from a very young age, but also alludes to the dish with hand-cut lobed rim, and a Yuan dynasty stem bowl with rich
fact that, as a young university graduate, he lacked the means to purchase sea-green celadon glaze (Lots 2997 and 2994).
fine pieces. He acquired his first significant monochrome when he was
twenty-nine years old. His choice was interesting – strictly speaking Mr Kan takes a distinctively scholarly approach to his collection,
it was a monochrome, but it was an unglazed Yixing hexagonal teapot. appreciating that knowledge is not a static thing but something which
However, the teapot did fulfil the collector’s preference for simple lines will evolve with the revelations of new research, and may be the subject
and lack of distracting decoration. It also bore the mark of the famous of different opinions, while, in some instances, the information available
late Ming dynasty potter Chen Zhongmei 陳仲美 and was dated to the at any one time may be insufficient to illuminate all features of a
jiazi 甲子 year of the Tianqi reign (equivalent to AD 1624). The current particular piece. He has also stated his view that collectors are ‘only
sale also includes a rare Yixing piece. This is an 18th century Yixing custodians of whatever objects they collect’, no matter how fervent their
teapot with striking robin’s egg glaze (Lot 2999). interest in them, and that at some time in the future those objects will
find a new home. Arguably the most valuable contributions that any
Mr Kan has noted that his collection grew exponentially after the late current owner can make are preservation, documentation and continued
1980s, and in the 1990s he also expanded his circle of acquaintances research for the benefit of future generations.

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