Page 140 - Bonhams FINE CHINESE ART London November 2 2021

Image courtesy of Shanghai Museum

The present lot is extremely rare and only one other identical example, 今自三月初二日開工之後，奴才在廠儹造得奉發各色錦地四團山水膳
with a cover, in the Shanghai Museum and probably the pair to this lot, 盌、盃盤，並六方青龍花瓶等件外，奴才又新擬得夾層玲瓏交泰等瓶
has been published; see Chen Xiejun, Shanghai Museum, Hong Kong, 共九種，謹恭摺送京呈進。其新擬各種，係奴才愚昧之見，自行創
2007, p.102, no.128. Few other related examples appear to have 造，恐未合式，且工料不無過費，故未敢多造。伏祈皇上教導改正，
been published. The present lot not only displays supreme technical 以便欽遵，再行成對燒造。餘外尚有新擬瓷器數種，亦係奴才自行擬
virtuosity, but encapsulates the Qianlong Emperor’s drive for innovative 造，已與催總老格詳細講究，囑其如式辦理，俟得時隨後呈進。奴才
and playful designs. 於四月十四日自廠回關，八月內當再赴窯廠，另容料理新樣呈進。

The most unusual and rare feature of the present lot is its revolving which may be translated as:
technique. This represents the most difficult aspect to the potter, as
the master potters would have had to create two interlocking pieces ‘Today since the start of work on the second day of the third month,
with different glazes that would still freely and accurately move after your humble servant has made four landscape bowls, cups and plates,
firing in the kiln. By the Song dynasty, if not earlier, it was customary and a six-sided green dragon vase in the factory. A total of nine kinds
to display some ceramic vessels on lacquer or porcelain stands to of bottle vases are newly proposed, including the exquisite reticulated
elevate them and set them above the mundane. In the twelfth and double-layer vase and other vases. I just fear that they are not suitable,
thirteenth centuries some vases were made with non-detachable and the labour and materials are not without excessive costs, so
ceramic stands, which provided a model for this Court porcelain. they dare not make more at the kiln. I humbly ask for your Majesty’s
The daring combination of a pale celadon glaze for the bowl with opinions, so that they could be followed, and then fired in pairs.
gilt and teadust stand reflects the two sides of Qing Imperial taste: Moreover, there are also several new types which have been made
revival of Song dynasty elegance and Qianlong period flamboyance based on my own ideas. They have been discussed in detail with the
and technical perfection. chief potter. They will be submitted later when they are available. Your
humble servant returned from the factory on April 14 and went to the
Although the Qianlong Emperor commissioned and pushed for these kiln again in August to allow new dishes to be presented.’
innovative pieces, this revolving bowl represents a new and creative
type of ware designed specifically by Tang Ying, Director General of The Workshop Archives of the Zaobanchu on the eighth year of the
the Imperial Kiln. Tang Ying served at the Imperial Kiln for over twenty- Qianlong reign (1743) also mention a ‘revolving bowl in powder-green
eight years under the Yongzheng and Qianlong reigns, and his tenure glaze with stand’ (冬青有座轉旋靶盌一件) which was incorporated
was noted for some of the finest porcelain produced during the Qing into the Imperial collection. Some scholars have argued that this refers
dynasty. According to the Qing Court archives, however, in the sixth to a revolving bowl in the National Palace Museum, Taipei, illustrated
year of the Qianlong reign (corresponding to 1741), the Qianlong in Stunning Decorative Porcelains from the Ch’ien-lung Reign, Taipei,
Emperor criticised him and his wares in the following memorial 2008, p.187, no.63.
(《遵旨敬謹辦理陶務折》) :
See a famille rose stem bowl with attached celadon-glazed stand,
‘The wares produced over the past years are far inferior to those Qianlong seal mark and of the period, in the Smithsonian, Washington,
produced during the Yongzheng period’. illustrated by Yang Enlin, Chinesische Porzellanmalerei im 17 und 18
Jahrhundert, Munich, 1986, no.81. See also a celadon-glazed bowl
To please the Emperor, Tang Ying created some of the most ingenious with attached revolving famille rose stand, Qianlong seal mark and of
and original designs of porcelain, including those with a revolving the period, illustrated by A.Hougron, La Ceramique Chinoise Ancienn,
mechanism. In his memorial in the eighth year of the Qianlong reign Paris, 2015, p.260.
(corresponding to 1743), Tang Ying proudly proclaimed ‘nine new and
creative types [of porcelain]’:

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