Page 145 - Sothebys Speelman Gems of Chinese Art

This superbly carved glass brushpot is a true gem of Qing
dynasty craftsmanship, amongst the finest quality examples
of Chinese glassware ever to have appeared at auction. The
opulent design of a butterfly depicted freely flying amidst
flowering branches in a vivid autumnal scene is superbly
articulated in varying levels of relief through the rich
cinnabar-red overlays to the vivid turquoise-blue ground. It
marks the point in the early Qianlong period when the quality
of carved overlay glass created in the Glass Workshops set
up by Jesuits in the Forbidden City reached its absolute
zenith. It is extremely rare to find any reign-marked carved
overlay glass brushpot, and no example appears to be
preserved in the two key repositories of the Qing court
collection, the Palace Museum, Beijing and National Palace
Museum, Taipei.
There is, however, a Yongzheng reign-marked glass overlay
example (fig. 1) in the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, acc.
no. 1986.643, donated by Paul and Helen Bernat, carved fig. 1
through ruby-red overlays with an auspicious design of White-ground red overlay glass brushpot, mark and
period of Yongzheng
bats and fruiting peach branches set against a background
© Collection of Museum of Fine Arts, Boston
of rockwork and raging waves. The style and quality of the
圖一
carving is so closely related that it is likely that the current
清雍正 白地套寶石紅料筆筒《雍正年製》款
brushpot dates from shortly after, early in the Qianlong
© 波士頓美術館藏品
period. The current brushpot is a more ambitious endeavour,
the design reserved against a turquoise-blue ground, and
with the added feature of an excerpt from a Tang poem
inscribed in the skilfully conceived space in the design.
The overall effect, for an admirer handling the brushpot plants interspersed with butterflies is reminiscent of the
while slowly rotating it, is to achieve the effect of viewing a current example, but less complex.
treasured scroll painting.
For a Qianlong glass snuff bottle with similarly striking colour
The same Qianlong nianzhi four-character mark, so combination as the current brushpot, see the turquoise-
intricately wheel-cut within a double square, can be found ground pink overlay glass snuff bottle from the Mary and
on a select group of falangcai enamelled glass brushpots, George Bloch collection, sold in these rooms, 24th November
including a smaller circular example with a design of scholars 2014, lot 160, where the four-character mark is incised in a
from the collection of Alfred E. Hippisley and J. Insley Blair, much more sketchy manner compared to the precision and
sold at Christie’s Hong Kong, 28th November 2012, lot formality of the mark on the current brushpot.
2124, a rectangular ‘European subject’ example originally
The inscription is an excerpt from Gui (Osmanthus), a poem
in the Water, Pine and Stone Retreat collection, sold at
by the Tang dynasty poet Li Qiao:
Christie’s Hong Kong, 27th November 2007, lot 1665, and
another formerly in the Victor Ezekiel collection, included in Zhi sheng wuxian yue. Hua man ziran qiu.
the International Exhibition of Chinese Art, London, Royal ‘The branches are growing for months without end.
Academy of Art, London, 1935-1936, cat. no. 2210. Once they are laden with blossoms, autumn has
surely arrived.’
The vivid and highly striking colour combination of ruby-red
against a turquoise-blue ground appears to be unique on The same poem is inscribed on Kangxi porcelain month cups
a Qianlong-reign marked glass vessel. There is, however, representing the eighth month, which similarly depict autumn,
a famous vase in the Palace Museum, Beijing, described painted with a small hare seated in the grass beneath a yellow
as ‘a masterpiece of the Qianlong period’, illustrated in flowering cassia tree, and the same poem. See Regina Krahl,
Zhang Rong, Lustre of Autumn Water. Glass of the Qing Chinese Ceramics from the Meiyintang Collection, London,
Imperial Workshop, Beijing, 2005, pl. 81. Decorated with 1994, vol. 2, no. 777. Osmanthus is closely associated with
opaque turquoise-blue overlays carved through to a ruby- the Chinese mid-autumn festival and also became associated
red ground, the colour ground is in effect the reverse of the with the imperial examinations, as they were held in the eighth
current brushpot. The intricate carved design of flowering lunar month.

GEMS OF CHINESE ART — THE SPEELMAN COLLECTION I 143