Page 27 - In His Majesty's Palm Excuisite Playthings April 5 17 HK Sothebys

fig. 1
Blue and white ‘floral’ bowl, mark and period of Chenghua
© Shanghai Museum
圖一
明成化 青花折枝花紋盌 《大明成化年製》款
© 上海博物館藏品
As all porcelains of Chenghua mark and period, cups of
this design are extremely rare. In this case only two other
examples appear to be preserved, both in Chinese museum
collections: one cup, in the Palace Museum, Beijing, from the
Qing court collection, is illustrated in The Complete Collection
of Treasures of the Palace Museum. Blue and White Porcelain
with Underglazed Red, Shanghai, 2000, vol. 2, pl. 36, where
it is stated that this cup was used in the palace for foods; the
other is preserved in the Shanghai Museum, published in Wang
Qingzheng, Qinghua youlihong/Underglaze Blue & Red, Hong
Kong, 1987, col. pl. 77 (fig. 1). No cup of this design appears
to be preserved in the National Palace Museum, Taipei, which
holds the largest collection of Chenghua imperial porcelains.
This design has also been discovered among the vessels
discarded at the Ming imperial kilns and a cup reconstructed
from sherds was included in the exhibition A Legacy of
Chenghua: Imperial Porcelain of the Chenghua Reign Excavated
from Zhushan, Jingdezhen, Tsui Museum of Art, Hong Kong,
1993, cat. no. C 60 (fig. 2), where the piece is identified as a
cup for tea, and where Bai Kun wrote “It is a tradition that the
more concentrated the tea, the smaller the cup and vice versa.
This cup with a capacity of only tens of millilitres was an ideal
one for the Emperor Chenghua and Lady Wan to enjoy the art
of tea drinking …” and “The relatively thick walls protect one’s
hand from being burnt while grasping the hot cup of tea, while
the wide mouth and shallow body allow the heat to escape
rather quickly.” He further states “It is quite possible that the
practice of drinking ‘Gongfu tea’ actually originated during
Chenghua and evolved thereafter.” He thus suggests that
cups of this form were used for strong fermented tea, similar
IN HIS MAJESTY’S PALM: EXQUISITE PORCELAIN PLAYTHINGS
fig. 2
Blue and white’ floral’ cup, mark and period of Chenghua
© Jingdezhen Ceramics Archaeology Institute
圖二
明成化 青花折枝花小盃 《大明成化年製》款
© 景德鎮陶瓷考古研究所
to that drunk today in the gongfu tea ceremony. Although
the practice of gongfu tea preparation can at present not be
traced as far back, fermented teas are considered to have
been in use by the early Ming dynasty or even earlier (see H.T
Huang, Science and Civilisaton in China, vol. 6: Biology and
Biological Technology, part V: Fermentations and Food Science,
Cambridge, 2000, p. 538). Gardenia blossoms were also used
for flavouring tea.
In his introduction to the Leshantang Collection in Sotheby’s
2008 sale catalogue, entitled ‘A Tradition of Elegance’, Julian
Thompson characterised the taste behind the Leshantang
Collection as standing in the great Shanghai tradition of
ceramic connoisseurship and collecting, and wrote about this
cup:
… a small wine cup from the later period of the
reign of Chenghua …, when the most delicate
of all Imperial porcelains were produced. The
glaze is waxy and lustrous, and the underglaze-
blue brilliant but soft in texture. The shape
is characteristic of the period, with wide,
countersunk base and very steep sides, like the
famous doucai chicken cups bearing the reign
mark written in a double square in place of the
usual double circle. The decoration is elegant
simplicity itself... Like all Chenghua porcelain, cups
of this pattern are rare and only two others are
recorded, in the Shanghai Museum and the Palace
Museum, Beijing.
25