Page 60 - Sotheby's Chinese Art and Porcelain Auction New York September 12, 2018

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A PAIR OF COPPER-RED ‘WUFU’ during the Yongle reign (1403-24), when were revived during the Kangxi reign. Recent
BOWLS silhouettes of animals and Þ sh were used in research by Peter Lam and other leading
combination with underglaze-blue designs; for scholars indicate that the inspiration to revisit
YONGZHENG MARKS AND PERIOD
an example excavated from the late Yongle the celebrated but technically challenging
each delicately potted with deep curved sides stratum of the Ming imperial kiln site, see pigment occurred during the early years of
rising from a straight foot to a gently ß ared Imperial Porcelain of the Yongle and Xuande the Kangxi period under the direction of Zang
rim, the exterior boldly painted with four bats Periods Excavated from the Site of the Ming Yingxuan, who was sent to Jingdezhen in
swooping and soaring in copper-red silhouettes, Imperial Factory at Jingdezhen, Hong Kong 1681 to oversee the rebuilding of the kilns and
the intensity of the red deftly shifting from deep Museum of Art, Hong Kong, 1989, cat. no. 38 serve as imperial supervisor. It was in these
crimson to a pale pinkish-gray at the wing tips, and a Xuande period example recovered from early years of the Qing dynasty that a series
all reserved on a white ground, the interior the Xuande stratum of the Ming imperial kiln of copper-red mythical beasts appear, their
center with a further bat in ß ight, the base with site at Jingdezhen and included in the exhibition abstracted rich-red forms boldly contrasting
a six-character mark within a double circle in Jingdezhen chutu Ming Xuande guanyao ciqi with white porcelain body covered with a pale
underglaze blue (2) [Xuande Imperial Porcelain Excavated at blue-tinged transparent glaze.
Diameter 6 in., 15.3 cm Jingdezhen], Chang Foundation, Taipei, 1998, By the Yongzheng period, the technique had
cat. no. 101-2.
Designs created through red-glaze silhouettes been perfected and achieved its Þ nest form
originated in the early Ming dynasty and are Notoriously di$ cult to achieve, copper- of expression with the crimson-red glaze
best known from the Xuande (1426-35) period, red glazes had been largely abandoned at silhouettes of Þ sh, pomegranates and most rare
but the technique had already been developed Jingdezhen since the early Ming dynasty and of all, bats, appearing on bowls, stem bowls and

58 SOTHEBY’S IMPORTANT CHINESE ART