Page 240 - Sothebys Speelman Gems of Chinese Art

This spectacular pair of panels belongs to an exclusive group acts as a spatial device as well as suggesting that the viewer
produced in the eighteenth century of which only ten other has been invited behind-the-scenes into the life of this
examples appear to have been published. Six, from the family. While vernacular subjects were painted from the Ming
famous collection of Chinese art assembled in the eighteenth dynasty, it is rare to find them elevated to a status whereby
century by Jean Theodore Royer (1737-1807), and now in they are masterfully rendered in expensive enamel-painted
the Rijksmuseum, Amsterdam, are illustrated in Jan van versions. The quality of painting, construction and the gilded
Campen, ‘Painted by Fire. Jean Theodore Royer’s Chinese lacquer frames all suggest these would have been made for
Enamelled Plaques’, The Magazine Antiques, March 2004, a very wealthy merchant or presented as tribute gifts to the
pls V-IX and XII, of which pl. IX is also illustrated in Christiaan Court from Guangzhou.
J.A Jorg, ‘Chinese Enamelled Copper for Export: Some Dutch
The technique of enamelling on metal was introduced to
Documentation’, China of All Colours. Painted Enamels on
artists in Guangzhou by Jesuit missionaries around 1684.
Copper, London, 2015, fig. 21. A piece of Chinese paper used
Their location allowed these artists immediate exposure to
as padding for one of these plaques is dated to 1770, which
wares from Europe and they soon mastered the technical
Jan van Campen suggests these as an approximate dating
skills of enamel painting on metal; earlier than those working
for their production (see p. 72). See also a pair of panels,
in the Palace Workshop in Beijing. From a court memorial
from the collection of R.H.R. Palmer, included in the Oriental
endorsed by the Kangxi Emperor and dated to the 55th year of
Ceramic Society exhibition The Arts of the Ch’ing Dynasty,
his reign (1716) it is known that the Viceroy of Guangdong and
London, 1964, cat. no. 353; and another pair sold at Christie’s
Guangxi sent two artisans from Guangzhou to Beijing at that
London, 5th April 1976, lot 212. These ten panels share the
time to serve in the Palace Enamel Workshop (see Yang Boda,
same technical and stylistic characteristics as the present and
Tributes from Guangdong to the Ch’ing Court, Hong Kong,
are framed with similarly gilt-decorated lacquer frames, which
1987, p. 63). Kangxi’s grandson, the Qianlong Emperor, was
suggest they were made at the same workshop.
also known to recruit enamel artists from Guangzhou.
This group of panels demonstrate the remarkable ability of
The manufacturing process of painting with enamels on
Guangzhou craftsmen to not only adopt Western techniques
metal begins with coating the metal object with a white
but to adapt them to suit their own domestic audience. The
‘glaze’ similar to that used on porcelain. This is fired at low
scene of a wealthy Chinese household is rendered in the Qing
temperature, which helps to secure the enamel to the metal
pictorial practice of constructing compositions whereby depth
body. Decorators would apply the design in coloured enamels,
is suggested through the connected spaces that open into
which was then fired again at low temperature after which
further rooms and the outdoors, which is probably based on
black enamel, which did not require firing, was applied and
Northern European models. Several Western techniques are
the exposed rim and foot were gilded. The enamel palette
utilised to give the sense of space: linear perspective in the
used was called yangcai or ‘foreign enamel’ as it was initially
architectural elements that also serve to frame the scene,
imported from Europe. Domestic production of yangcai
chiaroscuro, and embossing for the figures. James Cahill in
started from around 1728, after the creation of the most
Pictures for Use and Pleasure. Vernacular Painting in High
important colour, opaque white enamel. White was essential
Qing China, Berkeley, 2010, p. 80, notes that “many Qing
for the artist to create pastel shades necessary for painting,
painters recognised in these foreign devices the potential for
especially landscapes, flora and fauna, and for achieving
expanding the expressive capacities of their pictures, and
successful shading. By the Qianlong Emperor’s reign, the craft
found creative means of adapting and transforming them to
of enamelling on metal reached perfection with forms and
suit their special purposes”.
designs often reflecting the Emperor’s extravagant and lavish
A sense of intimacy is created through the interactions of taste.
the figures, which appear to depict a family. The privacy of
the events is highlighted through the drawn curtains, which

238 SOTHEBY’S 蘇富比