Page 139 - Christie's Chinese Works of Art March 24 and 25th, 2022 NYC

ANOTHER PROPERTY
1020
A SUPERB AND EXTREMELY RARE CLOISONNÉ ENAMEL DISH 明景泰 掐絲琺瑯纏枝蓮紋盤 六字楷書刻款
JINGTAI INCISED SIX-CHARACTER MARK IN A LINE AND OF THE
PERIOD (1450-1456)
With shallow rounded sides rising from a straight foot to a slightly flaring rim,
the dish is finely decorated in the center with a lotus seedpod surrounded by
double rings of petals and lotus scroll, with further lotus scroll in the well, all
reserved on a turquoise ground.
8Ω in. (21.7 cm.) diam.
(mark)
$300,000-500,000

The Jingtai reign is the most celebrated period for Chinese cloisonné
enamel, so much so that the term Jingtai lan (Jingtai blue) is often used to
describe cloisonné enamel objects in China. In his book Tianfu guangji, the
collector Sun Chengze (1596-1676) recorded that on the 4th, 14th and 24th
of every month at the back of a building called the Neishi, located outside
the Xuanwu Gate, rare and precious treasures made for the inner court
were traded, “such as bronze wares of the Xuande era, porcelain wares of
the Chenghua era, lacquer wares made by the Guoyanchang of the Yongle
era, and the Jingtai cloisonné made by the Yuqian zuofang [the Imperial
Workshop].” Such accounts confirm the high status Jingtai cloisonné enamel
wares held at least by the late Ming-early Qing period.

The present dish is exceptional for its sturdy, heavily cast bronze body, the
rich, well-preserved gilding, and the strong colors set within fine, accurately
bent wires that delineate the contours of the designs. A Jingtai-marked
cloisonné enamel dish of this design and of comparable size is illustrated by
H. Brinker and A. Lutz, Chinese Cloisonne, The Pierre Uldry Collection, New
York, 1989, pl. 10, where another dish of similar design, but of slightly smaller
size (26 cm.) and bearing a double vajra mark, is illustrated pl. 14, where it is
dated first half 15th century. Another Jingtai-marked example of comparable
size was sold at Sotheby’s London, 14 July 1981. Smaller Jingtai-marked
dishes of this design include the one sold in Gems of Chinese Art, The
Speelman Collection, I, Sotheby’s Hong Kong, 3 April 2018, lot 3406 (19.6
cm.), and the dish sold at Christie’s New York, 3 June 1998, lot 44, and again
at Christie’s London, 7 November 2006, lot 93 (19.5 cm.).
A similar lotus medallion formed as a lotus pod encircled by two bands of (reverse)
petal lappets can be seen on the cover of a Jingtai-marked cloisonné enamel
bracket-lobed box in the National Palace Museum, Taipei, illustrated in
Enamel Ware in the Ming and Ch’ing Dynasties, National Palace Museum,
1999, p. 66, no. 1, as well as on the famous cloisonné enamel Jingtai-marked
box and cover, formerly in the collection of T. B. Kitson, sold at Christie’s
Hong Kong, 3 December 2021, 2957. (Fig. 1)

Fig. 1 An important and extremely
rare imperial Ming cloisonné enamel
bracket-lobed box and cover, Jingtai
incised six-character mark and of the
period (1450-1456), sold at Christie’s
Hong Kong, 2 December 2021, lot 2957.
圖一 明景泰 御製掐絲琺瑯纏枝番蓮紋盒
「大明景泰年製」刻款 香港佳士得 2021
年12月2日, 拍品編號2957
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