Page 58 - 2019 October Qing Imperial Porcelain Sotheby's Hong Kong

The current cup, with its charming proportions and 此盌比例絕佳，脂紅妙麗，呈現雍正皇帝含蓄雅致之
vibrant ruby-red enamel, is an archtypcal realisation of the 審美觀，同時為十八世紀瓷藝躍進的佐證。
Yongzheng Emperor’s aesthetic for understated refinement
and the technical developments in ceramic production in the 受益於宮廷傳教士引入之西洋科技，康熙末年成功研
18th century.
發出這類胭脂紅彩，然康熙年製傳世品寥寥無幾。
By virtue of the influence of Jesuit technology, pink enamel 雍正、乾隆年間，續以低溫燒製胭脂紅彩，發色不
of this type was developed in China in the final years of the 一，成為中國瓷藝中出眾的品類。景德鎮督陶官唐英
Kangxi period but very few Kangxi examples are known. It （1682-1756年）在《陶成紀事碑記》中，便稱此類為
was not until the Yongzheng and Qianlong periods that the
low-fired ruby-red enamel – which came in varying shades 「西洋紅色器皿」。
pink – became a more prominent feature in the repertoire
of Chinese ceramics. In fact, Tang Ying (1682-1756), 單色釉瓷，看以為易，實則尤艱，嚴苛匠人純青造
Superintendent of the imperial kilns in Jingdezhen, referred 詣，精準細密，拉坯燒製，繼而吹釉，即通過竹筒，
to such vessels as “Western red-glazed wares” in Taocheng 蒙以細沙，必須一絲不苟，才得此輕盈均勻之色。
jishi bei ji [Commemorative Stele on Ceramic Production].
參考圖載於《故宮珍藏康雍幹瓷器圖錄》一例，香
Deceptively simple, the manufacture of such monochrome
cups demanded the highest level of skill and meticulous 港，1989年，圖版132，另參考布倫戴奇舊藏一例，
precision, from not only the potting and firing but also the 署單圈年款，現藏於三藩市亞洲藝術博物館，圖見博
application of the enamel, which entailed blowing carefully 物館官方網站，編號B60P2365。且有一對收錄於《徐
through a silk gauze-covered bamboo tube on the biscuit 氏藝術館》，香港，1991年，圖版126。本場拍賣還
to achieve the lightly speckled yet even effect seen on the 有一尺寸略小之胭脂彩盃，拍品編號3102。
current cup.
See a similar cup, illustrated in Kangxi, Yongzheng, Qianlong.
Qing Porcelain from the Palace Museum Collection, Hong
Kong, 1989, pl. 132; another related example, with the
reign mark inscribed within a single circle, from the Avery
Brundage Collection and now preserved in the Asian Art
Museum of San Francisco, San Francisco, published on the
Museum’s website, no. B60P2365; and a pair published in
The Tsui Museum of Art, Hong Kong, 1991, pl. 126.
See also a smaller ruby-pink enamelled cup also offered in
this sale, lot 3102.

56 SOTHEBY ’S QING IMPERIAL PORCELAIN