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The poem inscribed on the panel of the two 生衣獨坐楊柳風
tea bowls is entitled:
I sit alone in simple robes listening to the
雨中烹茶泛臥遊書室有作 wind in the willow trees.
‘Composed while boating in the rain 竹爐茗椀泛清瀨
and the tea is brewing’
The bamboo stove and the bowl of tender tea
It may be translated as: leaves – foating towards clear rapids
溪煙山雨相空濛 米家書畫將無同
‘The haze over the stream and the rain in the Which even the paintings of the Mi family
mountains appear as mist, cannot capture.
松風瀉處生魚眼
The wind blowing through the pine trees
seems to produce ‘fsh-eye’ bubbles.
中泠三峽何須辨
Why is it necessary to distinguish between
the fountain of Zhongleng and the Three
Gorges?
清香仙露沁詩脾
The fresh fragrance of this immortal dew
exudes poetic inspiration.
座間不覺芳堤轉
As I sit here, I am not aware of the embankment
passing by.’
A Rare Ruby-Ground Famille Rose Covered Bowl
by Rosemary Scott, International Academic Director Asian Art
This rare and exquisite covered bowl is not only a The decoration on the cups faithfully refects the poem,
not only depicting the efect of the wind and the rain, but
particularly fnely-made product of the imperial workshops, even the swathes of mist created by the ‘haze over the
it also bears a poem composed by the Qianlong Emperor stream and the rain in the mountains’.
himself. Only one other covered tea bowl (fg. 1) with the
same decoration appears to have been published. This was According to palace records, this poem was composed
sold by Sotheby’s London in December 1994 and is now by the Qianlong Emperor in the seventh year of his reign
in the Wang Xing Lou collection (see Imperial Perfection [AD 1742], when he was travelling in the rain, on his way
– The Palace Porcelain of Three Chinese Emperors, Hong back to the Yuanming Yuan (see Porcelains with Cloisonné
Kong, 2004, no. 56). Both the present cup and that in the Enamel Decoration and Famille Rose Decoration, The
Wang Xing Lou collection have overglaze ruby enamel Complete Collection of Treasures of the Palace Museum
grounds which are decorated with fne sgrafiato feather- 39, Hong Kong, 1999, p. 124). It is noted that the emperor
like scrolls. Both have two reserved panels on the body of then gave the order for the poem to be inscribed on
the bowl, outlined in gold enamel, one of which contains a teapot. A teapot with this inscription is preserved
the well-written poem, while the other depicts a scene, in the collection of the Palace Museum, Beijing (see
in famille rose enamels, in which a scholar in plain brown Porcelains with Cloisonne enamel Decoration and Famille
robes is shown seated within a waterside studio, while Rose Decoration, op. cit., p. 124, no. 108). The teapot,
in the next room his servant boils water for tea. Another which is decorated with a ground pattern of minute iron-
servant approaches across a bridge holding a tea pot in one red scrolls, has two reserved panels – one with a scene of
hand, while in the other he struggles to hold an umbrella a scholar sitting in a pavilion while his servant makes tea;
with which to shield himself from the rain. The reeds by the other containing the inscribed poem.
the riverbank and the willow trees beside the buildings are
shown bufeted by the wind and rain.
92 ART D'ASIE · 14 DÉCEMBRE 2016
