Page 38 - Reginald and Lena Palmer Collection EXHIBITION, Bonhams London Oct 25 to November 2 2021

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A YELLOW-GLAZED ‘DRAGONS’ SQUARE SEAL BOX This seal box and cover is a tour-de-force of the porcelain carver’s
AND COVER art, especially the carving and undercutting of the lid to create swirling
Wang Bingrong impressed four-character seal mark, clouds on which the dragons writhe their scaly coils around a flaming
Daoguang/Xianfeng pearl. The four-character seal mark on the base, Wang Bingrong
9.1cm (3 5/8in) square. zuo, combined with the exceptional quality allows firm attribution to
the famous potter Wang Bingrong (circa 1820-1875), well known for
his relief-carved porcelain. Indeed, the seal marks and signatures on
清道光至咸豐 黃釉雕瓷雙龍戲珠紋印盒
「王炳榮作」篆書模款 such pieces represent a blurring of the distinctions between artist
and craftsman, and serve to claim a position for the potter as a
Provenance: recognisable artist rather than an anonymous craftsman.
A. Trapnell (1838-1917)
A.T. Warre (1861-1937) Wang Bingrong was the most commercially successful of the
Bluett & Sons Ltd., London Daoguang period porcelain carvers and was active through at least
R.H.R Palmer (1898-1970), acquired from the above in June 1945, the Xianfeng reign as well. This success enabled the family kiln to
Collection no.595 re-establish production relatively quickly even after the destruction
caused by the Taiping rebellion. Wang Bingrong also produced several
Published and Exhibited: series of desk sets which would have included scholar’s accessories
The Oriental Ceramic Society, Monochome Porcelain of the Ming such as the present seal box, of exceedingly high quality. This present
and Manchu Dynasties, London, 1948, no.178 box would have been used to store red seal paste used by scholars
to stamp paintings, calligraphy, and other documents. See T.Miller
來源： and H.Hui, Elegance in Relief: Carved Porcelain from Jingdezhen of
A. Trapnell 舊藏（1838-1917） the 19th to Early 20th Centuries, Hong Kong, 2006, p.344. See also a
A.T. Warre 舊藏（1861-1937） snuff bottle, Wang Bingrong four-character mark, with similar dragons
倫敦古董商Bluett & Son Ltd. and clouds design, illustrated in Ibid., no.81.
R.H.R Palmer（1898-1970）於1945年6月購自上者，典藏編號595

展覽著錄：
倫敦東方陶瓷學會，《Monochome Porcelain of the Ming and
Manchu Dynasties》，倫敦，1948年，編號178

36 | BONHAMS