Page 104 - Christies Alsdorf Collection Part 1 Sept 24 2020 NYC

崇聖御寶 - 詹姆斯及瑪麗蓮 ·阿爾斯多夫珍藏

“ I used to say to my sons: Seek joyfulness when

you can, for seeking joy leads to an auspicious

atmosphere. After meals we would talk about

pleasant things and set our eyes on rare antiques,

so we digested easily and our bodies flourished.”

THE KANGXI EMPEROR

imperial altars had previously been made of bronze After the establishment of the Qing dynasty, new
or some other precious material, but as early as the imperial patrons ensured that monochrome porcelains
second year of his reign, in 1369, Emperor Hongwu reached fresh heights of refinement, and new colours
not only re-established imperial porcelain production were developed. Even during the first Qing-dynasty
at the Jingdezhen kilns in Jiangxi province, but in the reign of the Shunzhi Emperor (1644-1661), when
same year issued an edict declaring that the ceremonial imperial porcelain production was not yet fully re-
vessels used on the imperial altars should thenceforth established - despite frustrated attempts in 1654 and
be made of porcelain. Although this decision to eschew again in 1659 - a number of distinctive cobalt-blue
bronze was undoubtedly driven in significant measure dishes can confidently be dated to his reign. These
by the need to conserve copper, which would otherwise would have been required for the sacrifices performed
have been used in the manufacture of bronze vessels, by the emperor at the Temple of Heaven, seeking
its effect on the porcelains made for, and preserved by, divine intervention to prevent further natural disasters,
the Ming and Qing courts was considerable. During the following the devastating droughts, which brought
Ming dynasty the imperial altars at which the emperor terrible hardship to northern China in 1657 and 1660
personally made sacrifices were the Altar of Heaven – (see Rosemary Scott, ‘A Question of Blue Imperial
Tiantan; the Altar of Earth, Diqitan; and the Altar of the Monochromes in the Shunzhi Reign’, Transactions of the
Sun, Chaoritan. These altars came to be decorated with Oriental Ceramic Society, vol. 73, 2008-2009, pp. 145-51).
tiles and served by porcelain vessels of blue, yellow and During the Kangxi reign (1662-1772), the emperor
red, respectively. Even when the sacrifices offered to instigated an enquiry into the prevailing situation at the
Heaven and Earth were combined at an altar known as Jingdezhen kilns, which had been badly damaged during
the Dasidian, following the imperial decree of 1377, the the ‘Revolt of the Three Feudatories’ – in 1674 much
tiles and pillars of that altar were restricted to blue and of Jingdezhen and many of the kilns themselves had
yellow. This association of blue and yellow with Heaven been razed to the ground. The enquiry began in 1680
and Earth can be traced back to the Zhou dynasty and by 1683 a new, reorganized, kiln complex had been
(1027-221 BC). The Altars of the Moon, Xiyuetan, and established to undertake imperial orders of porcelain
the imperial Ancestors, Taimiao were both served by for the court. It is significant that the three great Qing
white porcelain vessels. Red, blue, yellow and white emperors of the late seventeenth and eighteenth centuries
porcelains were thenceforth made for use in sacrifices, as were great patrons of imperial porcelain and took a
well as for secular purposes - hence the names ‘sacrificial personal interest in its production. The desire of these
red’ (jihong ) and ‘sacrificial blue’ (jilan ) to describe emperors for porcelains which revived the finest ceramic
certain glaze colours. wares of the past, as well as for new colours, encouraged

102 PART I