Page 123 - Sotheby's Important Chinese Art, Sept. 21-22, 2-21, NYC

Qianlong 56th year (1791) Tribute Records – (servant) Fu Chang 乾隆五十六年（1791年）貢檔進單
delivered…Gold-ground yangcai wugong (deliver to Rehe)… （奴才）福昌跪進……（交熱河）金地洋彩五供成
Qianlong 56th year (1791) Tribute Records – (servant) Fu Chang 分……
delivered…Gold-ground yangcai wugong (deliver to temple hall)…
Qianlong 58th year (1793) Tribute Records – (servant) Fu Ying 乾隆五十六年（1791年）貢檔進單
delivered…Gold-ground yangcai wugong (deliver to Rehe)… （奴才）福昌跪進……（交佛堂）金地洋彩五供成
Qianlong 58th year (1793) Tribute Records – (servant) Fu 分……
Ying delivered…Gold-ground yangcai wugong (deliver to 乾隆五十八年（1793年）貢檔進單
temple hall)…
（奴才）福英跪進……（交熱河）金地洋彩五供成
分……
When reading about the complexity of firing gold onto 乾隆五十八年（1793年）貢檔進單
porcelain, especially the quest to achieve an even surface
colour, it is not hard to see why it was not attempted more （奴才）福英跪進……（交佛堂）金地洋彩五供成
often for other vessels. The challenge began with the purity 分……
of the raw material. Rose Kerr and Nigel Wood (Science
and Civilisation in China, vol. 5: Chemistry and Chemical 瓷器上施金地難度極高，若要成色均勻則更難上加
Technology, part xii: Ceramic Technology, Cambridge, 2004, 難，這或許是金地在瓷器品種中不常見的原因。首
p. 703), quoting another scholar, Rudolf Hainbach, state 先，原料必須純淨。柯玫瑰及奈傑爾•伍德曾在其 Fig. 1 A set of five-piece stone offering vessels, Beijing © Yale University Press, New Haven
“It is essential that chemically pure gold should be used 圖一 石五供 北京 © 耶魯大學出版社，紐黑文
[for overglaze-gold], since the presence of even minute 書中引述學者Rudolf Hainbach的觀點：「（釉上金
traces of foreign metals will prevent the formation of a
true gold colour, spoiling the tone and causing changes
due to oxidation.” Further, for use in porcelain decoration,
this gold had to be ground to an extremely fine powder in
order to be thoroughly dispersed in the painting medium,
so fine in fact, that Hainbach considered it possible only by
chemical means. To achieve this mechanically must not only
have required immense skills, but was clearly exceedingly Vessel sets of any type are extremely rare in Chinese art. The 彩）原料化學成份必須純淨，稍有細微雜質，則會
laborious and time-consuming. Finally, firing the gold onto three vessel shapes making up the present set are all based 因氧化導致色澤變異，不成真金之色」（《Science
the porcelain required very precise observation of the kiln on ancient forms. The ding incense burner and the pair of gu and Civilisation in China, vol. 5: Chemistry and Chemical
temperatures (ibid., p. 697): “If kiln temperatures are too vases represent baroque versions of archaic ritual bronzes, Technology, part xii: Ceramic Technology》，劍橋，2004
low the gold will simply rub away after firing, while if the which had been revived in ceramic form already in the Song
kiln is overfired the gold will tend to form fine beads as its dynasty (960-1279). The candle sticks may be based on 年，頁703）。其二，原料必須研成極微細粉末，才
melting point is exceeded and the definition of the gilding bronze versions of the Tang (618-907), but ceramic examples 可均勻分佈表面。Hainbach認為如此微細的金粉當以
will be compromised.” The potters working at the imperial remained rare until the Ming period (1368-1644). 化學方法才可製成。而如以手工研磨，則不但需精湛
kilns in Jingdezhen were the most experienced of their time. Altar garnitures are known at least since the Yuan dynasty 造詣，更要耗費大量工時。最後，窰燒火候亦極其講
That difficulties such as these are worth mentioning means (1279-1368), but then consisted of only three pieces, an 究（出處同上，頁697）：「溫度太低，出窰後金料
that it was a tall order, out of the ordinary, to get together a incense burner and two vases, as is documented in the
garniture of five large matching gold-ground pieces. inscription on the David Vases, now in the British Museum, 一抹即落，溫度高於熔點，則易生小粒，亦有損輪廓
Some experiments with a gold ground on porcelain were which were commissioned in 1351 together with an incense 之清晰」。景德鎮御瓷藝匠造詣冠絕當時，然而製造
made already in the Kangxi period (1662-1722), both in the burner for a temple near Jingdezhen, and is corroborated 如本五供般尺寸碩大的成組器，仍可謂難度極高。
Beijing palace workshops and at Jingdezhen, probably in by many smaller sets that are preserved. Such sets similarly
connection with the exploration of colloidal gold to achieve consist of a censer with upward-bent handles and two 康熙年間，京中御窰及景德鎮藝匠便已開始實驗燒製
a ruby-pink enamel, which required far smaller quantities gu-shaped vases, see, for example, a blue-and-white set 金地瓷器，相信與燒造胭脂紅彩而研製膠態金原料相
of the precious metal. Two falangcai bowls in the Baur excavated from a Yuan hoard at Futian, Pingxiang, Jiangxi 關，而胭脂紅彩瓷所需之金料則遠遠要少於金地彩
collection, Geneva, have a gold ground, but applied to the province, included in Chen Xiejun, Chen Kelun & Lu Minghua,
unglazed biscuit, see John Ayers, Chinese Ceramics in the Youlan shencai. Yuandai qinghua ciqi teji/Splendors in Smalt. 瓷。日內瓦鮑氏收藏兩琺瑯彩例，金地施於素胎之
Baur Collection, Geneva, 1999, vol. 2, nos. 162 and 164; and Art of Yuan Blue-and-white Porcelain, Shanghai Museum, 上，參考 John Ayers，《Chinese Ceramics in the Baur
a cup of Kangxi mark and period in the Palace Museum, Shanghai, 2012, no. 70. The candle stick is a form rarely Collection》，日內瓦，1999年，卷2，編號162 及164
Beijing, painted with blue-enamel shou characters on seen in porcelain and may have been introduced from ；另見一康熙酒圓例，藏北京故宮博物院，飾金地藍
a gold ground is illustrated together with early rose- abroad. In the Yongle period (1403-1424), porcelain candle 彩壽字紋，與數件胭脂紅彩瓷同載於余佩瑾編，《
pink vessels in Yu Pei-chin, ed., Yin cheng xu ying. Qing sticks were copying Middle Eastern metal shapes, and in 金成旭映: 清雍正琺瑯彩瓷》，國立故宮博物院，台
Yongzheng falangcai ci/Porcelain with Painted Enamels the Zhengde period (1506-1521) blue-and-white examples
of Qing Yongzheng Period (1723-1735), National Palace had Arabic inscriptions, but are believed nevertheless to 北，2013年，頁290，圖15。
Museum, Taipei, 2013, p. 290, fig. 15. have been intended for use in a Buddhist context, like two
John Arthur MacLean (1879-1964)

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