Page 78 - Nov 28 Chinese Art Hong Kong

Chenghua period, Tian mark; image courtesy Yongzheng mark and period; image courtesy
of the Trustees of the British Museum, London of the Palace Museum, Beijing
明成化，「天」款，大英博物館大衛德基金會藏 清雍正，「大清雍正年製」款，北京故宮博物院藏

Only three other similar examples, Yongzheng mark and of the period, Taipei, 2009, p.159; and E.S.Rawski and J.Rawson, eds., China: The
are presently known: the first such doucai guan jar in the Qing Court Three Emperors 1662 – 1795., London, 2005, p.245. For two similar
Collection, is illustrated in The Complete Collection of the Treasures examples of a doucai ‘winged-dragon’ jar, bearing a tian character,
of the Palace Museum: Porcelains in Polychrome and Contrasting Chenghua period, which provided the inspiration for the present lot,
Colours, Hong Kong, 2007, no.214.; the second, in the Victoria and see one unearthed in Zhushan, Jingdezhen, illustrated in A Legacy of
Albert Museum, London, gifted by Mrs Julia C. Gulland in 1907, Chenghua, Hong Kong, 1993, pp.310-311, no.C111; and another in the
museum no.622-1907, is published by A.Hougron, La Céramique Sir Percival David Collection, in the British Museum, London, illustrated
chinoise ancienne, Paris, 2015, p.212; and the third, was sold at by M.Medley, Illustrated Catalogue of Ming Polychrome Wares, London,
Woolley and Wallis, Salisbury, 15 November 2016, lot 88. 1978, pl.II, no.19.

The present ‘winged-dragon’ jar stands as a tribute by the Yongzheng Archaism in ceramics made by the Imperial kilns continued in the
Emperor to the celebrated Imperial porcelain produced during early Qianlong period under the supervision of Tang Ying. According
the Chenghua reign. Both emperors are known for their exacting to Tang Ying zouzhe, ‘Memorials by Tang Ying’, on the 19th day of
standards and personal involvement in the production process, the 6th month in the 9th year of the Qianlong reign (1743), Tang Ying
resulting in the finest porcelain in form and design. The Yongzheng received a Chenghua tian character jar and cover from the Palace
Emperor, though a Manchu, was a strong proponent of traditional Workshops, and was instructed to touch up the glaze flakes, but
Confucian thinking in Han Chinese culture, seeking to achieve cultural apprehensive of the possible detrimental outcome of firing an earlier
continuity. This was reflected in his support of the compilation of a piece in a contemporary kiln, Tang Ying instead had three pairs of jars
history of the previous Ming dynasty, demonstrating the orthodoxy and covers made in imitation of the original Chenghua prototype; see
of Qing rule. His fascination with antiquity led him to repeatedly send Yuan Tie, Qing gong ci qi dang an quan ji, vol.2, Beijing, 2008, p.294.
antiques from the Palace to the kilns to serve as standards for quality, For a very similar Yongzheng ‘winged-dragon’ lidded jar, but with a
models for forms and designs and as inspiration for innovation; see tian character mark, in the Shanghai Museum, see Lu Minghua, Ming
Harmony and Integrity: The Yongzheng Emperor and His Times, Dynasty Ceramics, Studies of the Shanghai Museum Collections,
Shanghai, 2007, p.299, fig. 5-37; and see a similar example, bearing
a tian character mark, which was sold at Christie’s Hong Kong, 27
November 2013, lot 3387.

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