Page 16 - Sotheby's Paris Arts D' Asia, June 11, 2019

8

TRÈS RARE VASE ROULEAU EN PORCELAINE This vase is decorated using a complex inlay technique,
LAQUÉE NOIRE INCRUSTÉE DE NACRE, D’OR which was invented in the seventeenth century by
ET D’ARGENT Chinese craftsmen working in one of the twenty-seven
workshops under the directorship of Viceroy Lang Tingzuo
DYNASTIE QING, ÉPOQUE KANGXI (1656-1668) in the newly established Zaobanchu (Imperial
Manufacture Department) in the Forbidden City. The
la panse à très fin décor de nacre représentant un
extraordinaire paysage dans un jardin animé de lettrés porcelain body was covered with layers of black lacquer
se divertissant tandis que les serviteurs vaquent à leurs which were then decorated with inlaid mother-of-pearl,
occupations, non loin d’une imposante pagode et d’une forêt before being engraved, tinted, enhanced and applied with
peuplée de bambous, de pawolonias et de pins sinueux, gold and silver leaf and dust, according to Andrée Lorac-
l’épaulement à décor d’une frise de lotus feuillagée, le col Gerbaud in l’Art du Laque, Paris, 1973, p. 35. The use of
à décor d’une scène de lettrés dans un paysage, le bord dust enabled craftsmen to step away from filling space
supérieur à décor d’une frise de leiwen en incrustations with diaper patterns, thus endowing the design with a
métaliques, le dessous à décor d’un médaillon décoré d’une more painterly effect. The close proximity of the various
pivoine en fleur workshops specialising in different materials in the Forbidden
49,3 cm, 19½ in. City led to the sharing of personnel and ideas between
workshops.
A very rare mother-of-pearl-inlaid black lacquered porcelain
rouleau vase, Qing Dynasty, Kangxi period This vase depicts an enchanting palace scene with two
groups of scholars seated at tables. On one scene, two of
40 000-60 000 € the scholars observe their companion, seated in the centre
350 000-525 000HK$ 44 600-67 000 US$ of the composition, engaged in undertaking calligraphy and
pointing, with the tip of his brush, at a cartouche bearing
清康熙 黑漆嵌螺鈿竹林七賢圖棒槌瓶 a two-character inscription 紫霜 meaning “purple frost”,
perhaps as a tribute to the purple variations of mother-of-
pearl inlay on the vase. The details are rendered so intricately
that all are discernible, such as the calligraphy work
undertaken by the central scholar.
This rare vase is one of the few known examples of porcelain
embellished with black lacquer inlaid with tiny pieces of thin
multi-coloured abalone (haliotis) shell to build up detailed
designs. Technically challenging, this technique was more
commonly applied to wood and other organic materials.
According to Sir Harry Garner in Chinese Lacquer, London,
1979, p. 211, ,this shell had ideal qualities for pictorial
decoration, but the small size and fragility of the pieces made
it difficult to use the incised technique. ... small pieces of
shell are massed together and some advantage taken of the
variety of colour to give a realistic effect that could never be
achieved by incised designs. The colour scheme was further
extended by the addition of gold and silver foil inlays’.
The delicacy and beauty of its details, and the remarkable
variety of colours created by the presence of mother-of-pearl
and precious metal inlays, emphasize the exceptional
nature of this piece of porcelain. The few surviving examples
of porcelains decorated with mother-of-pearl-inlays on a
lacquered ground all date to the Kangxi period such as this
vase.
Among these, is a small jar decorated with mother-of-pearl
applied to lacquer in the collection of the Gemeentemuseum
in The Hague, illustrated in M. Beurdeley and G. Raindre, Qing
Porcelain: Famille Verte, Famille Rose, London, 1987, p. 65,
no. 67. Compare also with a brushpot decorated in the same
technique, formerly in the Robert H. Blumenfield Collection,
sold Christie’s New York, 25th March 2010, lot 954. Compare
a smaller rouleau vase decorated with mother-of-pearl
inlays of rockwork, flowers and butterflies on a black lacquer
ground illustrated in Denise Patry Leidy, Mother-of-Pearl. A
Tradition in Asian Lacquer, New York, 2006, p. 43, fig. 32.

Other views

14 SOTHEBY’S ARTS D’ASIE