Page 6 - Sotheby's Imperial Chiense Porcelain Nov 4 2020 London

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A RARE YELLOW-GROUND BLUE AND WHITE 清雍正 黄地青花仙芝花卉紋雙耳盃
HANDLED CUP
YONGZHENG MARK AND PERIOD 《大清雍正年製》款
the rounded sides rising from a short foot to a lobed rim, 來源
flanked by a pair of butterfly-shaped handles, the interior 香港蘇富比1993年4月27日，編號240
painted with a central floral medallion radiating with two
rows of petal lappets, each enclosing a lingzhi or floral spray,
the exterior similarly decorated, all reserved on a bright
lemon-yellow ground, the base centred with a six-character
mark within a double-circle in underglaze blue
Width across handle 9.8 cm, 3⅞ in.

PROVENANCE
Sotheby’s Hong Kong, 27th April 1993, lot 240.
‡ £ 80,000-120,000

This exquisite cup with its crisp butterfly handles and
tiers of lingzhi and floral blooms, belongs to a select
group of wares from Yongzheng period that celebrate
both tradition and innovation. While the form and design
of this cup closely follow prototypes of the early Ming
period (1368-1644), the brilliant lemon-yellow ground
adds a sense of contemporaneity to the piece. This
stunning glaze was an innovation of the Yongzheng
period that was first introduced to the potters at
Jingdezhen in 1728 when Tang Ying (1682-1756) was
appointed resident manager of the Imperial kilns.
Cups of this form and with a lemon-yellow ground are
unusual, although a closely related cup was sold in our
Hong Kong rooms, 29th April 1997, lot 703. See also
two larger cups sold in these rooms, the first, 9th June
1992, lot 299, and again 15th May 2013, lot 172, and the
second, 10th June 1997, lot 100. Compare also a cup of
this design but lacking the lemon-yellow ground, in the
Palace Museum, Beijing, published on the Museum’s
website, accession no. 00154077; and another illustrated
in Mayuyama. Seventy Years, Tokyo, 1976, vol. I, pl. 1063.
For the prototype of this design, compare a Xuande (r.
1426-1435) mark and period cup recovered from the
waste heaps of the imperial kiln factory in Jingdezhen,
and included in the exhibition Imperial Porcelain of the
Yongle and Xuande Periods Excavated from the Site of the
Ming Imperial Factory at Jingdezhen, Hong Kong Museum
of Art, Hong Kong, 1989, cat. no. 47.

mark

8 Buyers are liable to pay both the hammer price (as estimated above) and the buyer’s premium together with any applicable taxes and Artist’s Resale Right (which will depend on the individual circumstances). 9
Refer to the Buying at Auction and VAT sections at the back of this catalogue for further information.