Page 144 - Sothebys HK Dragon Emperor April 2024

CALMING THE IMPERIAL EYE

A piece of monochrome porcelain had to have exceptional clouds, it exerts a calming authority and a reassuring power.
qualities to stand its ground among the flood of exuberant That it is anything but static is apparent by the waves below,
yangcai (‘foreign colour’) wares, with their profusion of which the animal seems to have agitated into gushing and
enamel colours and gilding, which the imperial kilns sent splattering crests. If the viewer was the Emperor, he would
to the court for the Qianlong Emperor (r. 1736-1795). undoubtedly have seen in this design a flattering image of his
While the appeal of yangcai is to dazzle the eye with the own persona, mirrored in all its glory.
greatest number of visual stimuli that could be fitted onto What makes this decoration so memorable are the complex
the porcelain surface, the present flask works in exactly the techniques that have been applied to achieve the striking
opposite way. And as the court was filled with an abundance chiaroscuro effect. Rather than just consisting of the
of bright ornament not only on its porcelains but also on its customary two dimensions of raised relief against flat
furniture, its fabrics and all other works of art, an object as ground, it is built of a multitude of layers. The basic design
serene and calming as the present flask must have been a is created by moulding, by pressing the sides of the flask
highly welcome focus on which to repose a tired eye. into a carefully carved mould, which already worked with
The inspiration for the present flask may have come from an several depths to create the basic silhouette of the design in
earlier design, for example, from a celadon moon flask with relief and rendering details at varying heights, some further
lotus scrolls of Yongzheng mark and period (1723-1735), raised, some further recessed. Details too fine to come out
of which one example is in the Palace Museum (Qing Kang clearly by the moulding process have then been incised into
Yong Qian ming ci tezhan/Catalog of the Special Exhibition of the porcelain surface, some into the relief, like the dragons’
K’ang-hsi, Yung-cheng and Ch’ien-lung Porcelain Ware from manes and the undulating rhythm of the waves, and some
the Ch’ing Dynasty in the Palace Museum, Palace Museum, into the flat ground, like fine splashes of water issuing from
Taipei, 1986, no. 61), and two examples have been sold in the waves.
our rooms (one, from the collections of Sir Frederick Bruce, Other details, considered important but apparently deemed
G.C.B., Robert C. Bruce, and Raymond F.A. Riesco, sold in not prominent enough in the moulded relief, were in addition
London 12th May 1953, lot 96 and 11th December 1984, lot emphasized – and raised even further – by the application
437, and in New York, 17th September 2014, lot 157; the of white slip as, for example, the dragons’ eyes, claws and
other in these rooms, 8th October 2006, lot 1005 and 7th certain other physical features, the flames and splashing
April 2015, lot 114; fig. 1). A comparison clearly shows how drops of water. Under the transparent glaze the relief design
in the Qianlong period form, decoration technique and glaze therefore appears in a multitude of fractionally different
tone were amended and improved. shades that create a three-dimensional effect without
At first glance, this vessel is simply an expanse of the most spoiling the admirable evenness of the celadon tone. While
delicate, bluish green. The shape is unpretentious, superbly the dragon exerts its powerful overall impact from any
proportioned, majestic, and very elegant. ‘Moon flasks’ distance, in order to appreciate the decoration in all its
mostly have larger, sometimes cylindrical necks, more intricacy, the flask needs to be inspected close up.
prominent and ornate handles, often stand on a proper foot, No other flask of this design appears to be recorded and
and the body can be oval, peach-shaped or even octagonal. in light of its complexity it is not surprising that similar
On this flask, the form is admirably simple, with a very small dragon decoration was rarely undertaken altogether. A large
neck, shaped like a flower bud, almost plain handles, just tianqiuping with a related relief design of dragons under
suggesting longevity mushrooms, and a fully-round profile, a fenqing glaze, but the dragons depicted in motion and
just very slightly flattened at the base to enable a firm stand having three claws only, is in the Palace Museum, Beijing,
for the vessel – a shape that truly evokes a full moon. illustrated in Gugong zhencang Kang Yong Qian ciqi tulu/
The amazing shade of the celadon glaze in this case Kangxi, Yongzheng, Qianlong. Qing Porcelain from the Palace
contributes to the effect. When working for the Yongzheng Museum Collection, Hong Kong, 1989, pl. 144. Two large vats
Emperor, the potters at Jingdezhen began to expand the with five-clawed dragons moving through clouds under a
range of their glaze colours by creating with absolute celadon glaze, but executed in carved relief, both unmarked
precision varying tones of existing glazes. Three Qianlong and attributed to the Yongzheng period, are in the Palace
celadon-glazed vessels in the Palace Museum, Beijing, all Museum, Beijing, and in the Shanghai Museum, respectively,
with dragon designs in relief but with three different types of illustrated in Zhongguo taoci quanji [Complete series on
celadon glaze are illustrated in Gugong zhencang Kang Yong Chinese ceramics], Shanghai, 2000, vol. 14, pl. 214; and in
Qian ciqi tulu/Kangxi, Yongzheng, Qianlong. Qing Porcelain Zhou Lili, Shanghai Bowuguan zangpin yanjiu daxi/Studies of
from the Palace Museum Collection, Hong Kong, 1989, pp. the Shanghai Museum Collections: A Series of Monographs.
460-62, pls 142-4. The three tones are distinguished by the Qingdai Yongzheng – Xuantong guanyao ciqi [Qing imperial
terms ‘Longquan’, denominating a strong yellowish green porcelain from Yongzheng to Xuantong], Shanghai, 2014, pl.
reminiscent of Ming-dynasty Longquan wares; dongqing, 3-32.
‘winter green’, for a deep bluish green; and fenqing, ‘powder Until 1981 the present flask belonged to Irene and Earl Morse
blue’ or ‘powder green’, for the present type, of the palest of New York, who had assembled a large and important
bluish/greenish tint. It is a clean, pure, fresh pastel colour collection of Chinese art, which included paintings, sculpture,
not created by admixture of opaque white enamel, like most bronzes, porcelains and other works. Their paintings have
other pastel tones at the time, but by letting the translucent been exhibited at the Art Museum of Princeton University
glaze play with the white porcelain body underneath. It (Roderick Whitfield, In Pursuit of Antiquity. Chinese Paintings
is an otherwordly tint hardly found in nature and thus of the Ming and Ch’ing Dynasties from the Collection of Mr
exceptionally well suited to evoke the mysterious glow of a and Mrs Earl Morse, Rutland, VT and Tokyo, 1969); their
full moon. bronzes and other early works of art were included in an
On both sides of the vessel, a five-clawed dragon is depicted exhibition at the Metropolitan Museum of Art (Virginia Bower
in majestic poise, facing the viewer head-on, flanked on the and Robert L. Thorp, Spirit and Ritual. The Morse Collection
narrow sides by auspicious bats. Superbly arranged on the of Ancient Chinese Art, New York, 1982). Some of their
circular space, encircling a big flaming pearl, with flames sculptures are in the Brooklyn Museum, New York.
issuing from behind its head, the body partly overlapping

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