Page 17 - Sotheby's Imperial Chiense Porcelain Nov 4 2020 London

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A RARE DOUCAI ‘DRAGON MEDALLION’ JAR 清雍正 鬪彩團雲龍紋罐
YONGZHENG MARK AND PERIOD
《大清雍正年製》款
the finely potted ovoid body rising from a tapered foot to
a rounded shoulder and an upright rim, painted around 來源
the exterior with five dragon medallions, each enclosing a
five-clawed dragon writhing amongst cloud scrolls, its arm Geraldine S. Violett 收藏
extended reaching for a flaming pearl, interspersed with 紐約蘇富比1990年5月30日，編號179
clusters of multi-coloured cloud scrolls, all above a lappet
border above the foot, the shoulder painted with bajixiang
above a stylised cloud scroll in green enamel, the base
inscribed with a six-character mark in underglaze blue
Height 18.5 cm, 7¼ in.
PROVENANCE
The Estate of Geraldine S. Violett.
Sotheby’s New York, 30th May 1990, lot 179.
‡ £ 150,000-200,000

This jar is particularly notable for its delicately painted Jars of this design are held in important museums and
motif of dragon roundels in soft washes of coloured private collections worldwide; see a closely related jar
enamel outlined and detailed in cobalt. The motif from the collection of Sir Augustus Wollaston Franks,
and colour scheme draws from imperial porcelain in the British Museum, London, illustrated in Sekai toji
of the Chenghua period (r. 1465-1487), adapted and zhenshu/Ceramic Art of the World, vol. 15, Tokyo, 1983,
reinterpreted in accordance to contemporary taste. A pl. 195; another in the Victoria and Albert Museum,
Yongzheng innovation is evident in the use of cobalt not London, is illustrated in Gulland, Chinese Porcelain,
only to delineate the different elements of the design but London, 1911, pl. 670; and a further jar from the E.T. Chow
also to create texture and a sense of movement through collection was sold in these rooms in 1974, in our Hong
th
the dragons’ fine network of scales and their manes. Kong rooms in 1981, and again, 30 April 1996, lot 487.
Chenghua polychrome porcelain provided much Jars painted with this motif continued to be produced in
inspiration to the potters active at the imperial kilns succeeding reigns, such as a jar and cover with Qianlong
during the Yongzheng period as these early wares were mark and of the period, in the Palace Museum, Beijing,
particularly treasured by the emperor. An official record illustrated in The Complete Collection of Treasures of the
from 1732 lists 57 porcelain designs that were to be Palace Museum. Porcelain in Polychrome and Contrasting
produced by the imperial kilns and mentions Chenghua Colours, Hong Kong, 1999, pl. 238.
polychrome porcelain among the most admired wares For a prototype of this form and design, see a Chenghua
of the past. While masterpieces of the past were at mark and period covered jar with floral roundels, from the
times sent to Jingdezhen and used as models for direct Qing court collection and still in Beijing, illustrated ibid.,
copying, the most successful Yongzheng wares are pl. 168; and a reconstructed cup with roundels of winged
contemporary interpretations of classic designs. This dragons, excavated from the Chenghua stratum at the
piece is such as creation: dragon roundels are known on waste heaps of the imperial kiln factory in Jingdezhen,
Chenghua porcelain but are seldom found on jars, and included in the exhibition A Legacy of Chenghua. Imperial
the rendering of the dragons are characteristic of the Porcelain from the Chenghua Reign Excavated from
Qing period.
Zhushan, Jingdezhen, Tsui Museum of Art, Hong Kong,
1993, cat. no. C120.

mark

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