Page 96 - 2019 September 11th Sotheby's Important Chinese Art

FROM THE
ZHUSHAN OFFICIAL

RESIDENCE

REGINA KRAHL

No single person probably had a greater impact on art clearly gave him an acute understanding of Fig. 1 Tang Ying,
the development of Chinese porcelain and has been aesthetic styles and material qualities, degrees soapstone carving
by Wang Ben, dated
more celebrated in this context than Tang Ying of excellence and pitfalls to avoid. It put him 1750, Peter Lam, ‘Tang
(1682-1756) (fig. 1). Having entered the services of in a unique position to propel the standards of Ying [1682-1756].
The Imperial Factory
the Qing Court at a very young age and belonging the porcelain-making industry beyond anything Superintendent
to one of the Banners under direct imperial control, previously seen. at Jingdezhen’,
Transactions of the
he personally served all three of the major emperors For an accomplished painter and calligrapher who Oriental Ceramic
of the Qing dynasty, Kangxi, Yongzheng and was immediately involved with the work at the Society, vol. 63, 1998-9
Qianlong. He befriended the Yongzheng Emperor, Imperial porcelain workshops, it must have been 圖一 1750年 汪木齋壽山
his senior by only a few years, while the latter an irresistible temptation to try his own hand at 石雕唐英像，錄於林業
was still Prince, and upon his ascension to the painting and writing on porcelain, or at least to 強，〈Tang Ying [1682-
1756]. The Imperial
throne, Tang became Vice-Director of the Imperial design some porcelains other than those officially Factory Superintendent
Household Department. Not long after, he was sent supplied to the court. After at first commissioning at Jingdezhen〉，
《Transactions of
to Jingdezhen and soon oversaw the production some conventionally decorated blue-and-white altar the Oriental Ceramic
of the Imperial kilns there; and although he later vessels, he soon went for more inventive styles, Society》，期63，1998
became Supervisor of Customs in nearby Jiujiang, which seem more directly to reflect his tastes, and 至1999年
he appears to have retained control over the his hand can be seen behind a number of very
production of Imperial porcelains until he retired, in distinctive vessels that are either inscribed with his
the year he died. name or his sobriquets, or bear his seals.
Tang Ying was accomplished as a painter, poet The present plaque can be attributed to Tang Ying
and writer, calligrapher, seal carver, and designer, on account of its style of landscape painting, its
managed to learn the techniques of the porcelain calligraphic flow, its two seals tao and zhu, and the
making process, and was a fine connoisseur of rare fact that the signature states that it was painted
antiques of all periods, which the Imperial collection at “the Zhushan Official Residence”, Zhushan
in Beijing had given him ample opportunities to in Jingdezhen being the seat of the Imperial
study. This combination of studying and practicing
workshops. Dates are otherwise rarely seen on Tang

94 SOTHEBY’S IMPORTANT CHINESE ART