Page 14 - Jie Rui Tang Kangxi porcelain mar 2018

THE JIE RUI TANG

COLLECTION:

EXCELLENCE AND DIVERSITY IN KANGXI PORCELAIN

⢕㐼秼ツ谁蜹螠 悦誩㛔棇询䐁擳櫙㐼

REGINA KRAHL 䐁誩ば

The reign of the Kangxi Emperor (r. 1662-1722) marks the re-awakening of court 䐀擳䎃꟦㹨䒄ぐ䒭䊨谀䗁莇կ翰牏攧邪猰㷸怵鹍
interest in ! ne craftsmanship in many di" erent media. The Emperor’s keen intellectual ꌳ䠑䲀⹛㣐幡䊨噟䖰罜⤛䧭ぐ갪涮㾝㹨Ⰺ㢴⦐
curiosity and focus on scienti! c advances and his determination to move China’s 䖵⡲㔔罜䧭用կ歋倴櫘㐼醢⡲꨽宠瑟꟦⚛欴欰㐾
industries forward led, among many other initiatives, to the foundation of several 갉㞓㕼罜稘犜㙹捀劊䒄ꅾ㖑⛇遤佟Ⰺ⹢ծ䋷た饰
imperial workshops within the con! nes of the Forbidden City. In the case of porcelain, 㾀⛓䨾佦㣐鋊垷櫘⡲♶㹆鏤倴㹨Ⰺկ姻㔔㥵姼涽
the ruler’s desire to be directly involved in the production processes was hampered by 䋷㼩櫘⹢⛓湬䱹⿮莄❠捀⛓䨾ꣳկ
the peculiarities of this medium, whose creation requires space and produces noise
桡效♫娔涬㛇荛⼧❀娔㨤鋶佟佦姼ꧪ䐀擳劊껷
and dirt and was thus unsuitable for the restricted expanse of the palace quarters
⼧䎃櫘㐼醢⡲䊺㨤鋅䗁莇⛓⹳䖔➃㼩姼儗㹨䒄⿮
of Beijing, which comprised in close proximity o# cial areas for state functions, for
莄醢櫘➠䨾濼欨㼱կ寐銯兞䗞ꔩ荈⼧㔋⚆私䊺㿂
administration and housekeeping, as well as more private living and recreational
醢櫘ꅾꔩⰌ㕜櫘㐼㢴侷敮醢倴姼搬罜䐀擳糒⡙
quarters for the imperial family.
ⴲ劍㼩嫱㹨䒄䨾诡⵸劊䖵櫘僈곏〳鋅殹儗兞䗞
The Emperor came on the throne at the age of seven and is said to have been e" ectively ꔩ⛓邝衅侷⚆私⟄⢵⚛搁ꅾ㣐ⶽ倝♶䗁僈宕坾ծ
in control of state a" airs from the age of ! fteen. It is thus less surprising that we have 㹒䗞ծ䧭⻊瘝劊醢櫘渿屣կ
little information about imperial intervention in the porcelain industry from the very
鿈⟧㹨䒄欽櫘㥵ꫬ蔄㖑랓䕙馜棟ꨢ륋秙渧ծ湎箠
beginning of his rulership than that the ! rst noticeable impetus arrived already within
the ! rst decade of his time in o# ce. A look around the palace collection would have 贪319⛓㿂㹨䒄䗳꨽♧菚䥰歋Ⰺ⹢䏎♴⟁醢
told the young Emperor that since the imperial kilns’ heydays in the Yongle (1403- ⡲涽䋷搁꨽暵ⴽ⿮莄կ搬罜蕯妝䲀⹛櫘⡲ⶽ倝
涽䋷佅䭯䗳♶〳㼱կ䐀擳䋷ꅾ櫘噟⚂ꬋ㼠岤倴涮
1424), Xuande (1426-1435) and Chenghua (1465-1487) periods, overall quality and
㾝㹨䒄䖵櫘罜䠑㖈䲀⹛⚥㕜侮넒醢櫘涮㾝կ
variety of the porcelain manufacture at Jingdezhen in Jiangxi province, where since the
fourteenth century almost all Chinese porcelain came from, had declined, and that the
䐀擳䋷捀䲀⹛櫘噟涮㾝衼鼆殥䌌Ⰶ❩暵捀兞䗞
workshops’ last great innovations dated back several centuries. ꔩ瓠䑖鏤鎙殥垺կⷠ彂秉1638 1685礶剅殥㊤
Some standard imperial wares as were required for use inside the palace, such as ꧧⵠ荈秉1678䎃饰捀㹨䒄鏤鎙櫘垺ծ⽪畎ծ㟯ծ
two-color bowls and dishes decorated with ! ve-clawed dragons (lot 319), had to be 怚㐼瘝湬荛鴀⚆倰姺կ亘卌噟䓽鶣ⷠ彂䨾殥康륋
produced as a matter of fact and would probably have been ordered by the household 鷶嵠岚憠崖嶑륋걸䔪⡲չSպ䕎㿂ⷠ孒倝ⶽ秙귆
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department in any case, without special imperial intervention. To push the porcelain ⛓♧ կ ⷠ彂䨾ⶽꧪ捀䖵櫘殥垺搬❠䑝鋅倴字瓠
workshops into a new direction, however, did require imperial patronage. The Kangxi 㥵劥㜥䬝颪⛓ꫬ蔄ꐘ닒⻊륋㕭Ⱉ倰螥〡渧箠贪
Emperor appears to have been interested more in re-animating, improving and 342⽰僈곏》垺ⷠ彂䨾殥륋秙莄⻌❩佦㹨⽇暟
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expanding China’s porcelain industry as a whole than in reviving an exclusive imperial ꤎ䨾诡䐀擳湎⢾欨捀湱⡃ կ
production line for the sole use of the court.
One of the ways for the Emperor to be personally involved in the direction the
workshops were taking was the unusual measure to recruit a designer to develop
porcelain designs for Jingdezhen in Beijing. With this measure China was far ahead of
its times. The artist Liu Yuan (c. 1638-c. 1685), an accomplished painter, calligrapher
and craftsman who knew how to carve ink stones, was chosen to design not only
imperial porcelains, but also seals, ink-cakes and lacquer ware, from about 1678 until
his death. Among the new designs that may be ascribed to Liu Yuan’s activity are,
according to Peter Lam, “dragons with waves and prominent whirlpools”, whereby the
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“neck of the dragon is always twisted in an S-shaped meander”. Although his designs
were destined for the manufacture of imperial porcelains, they quickly found access to !! "#$% 319

12 SOTHEBY’S