Page 39 - Bonhams Fine Chinese Art Nov 2013 Hong Kong

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A fine red-glazed saucer dish
Yongzheng six-character mark and of the period
The curved body flaring outwards rising from a short recessed circular
foot, the exterior evenly applied with a layer of deep crimson red glaze,
the base with a six-character Imperial kaishu mark in underglaze-blue
within double circles.
14.9cm diam.
HK$150,000 - 250,000
US$19,000 - 32,000
清雍正 霽紅釉敞口盤 青花雙圈「大清雍正年製」楷書款
The rich red derived from copper oxide was first used at Jingdezhen in
the fourteenth century as an underglaze pigment, usually mixed with
iron oxide to give the rich maroon coloured glaze. By the Qing dynasty
however, the colourant was composed of copper-lime mix without
the presence of iron, hence it was considered one of the most difficult
underglazed pigments to fire, due to the volatility of copper causing
over-firing and wastage. As firing of the underglazed copper red
pigments requires temperatures in excess of one thousand two hundred
and fifty degrees Celsius, but can only be consistently controlled by using 頁28，圖版25。
wood-burning kilns, the ceramic wares cost three to four times more
than other porcelain fired during this period.
Copper red monochromes are generally fired in a reducing atmosphere,
where the richness of the colour is greatly enchanced bu a short period
of re-oxidation during the end of the firing cycle. This process is tiresome
and often misfired, as a slight miscalculation in time and technique will
result in the copper glaze turning green.
Compare a similar but slightly larger red-glazed dish with Yongzheng
six-character mark and white fishes motif, in the Palace Museum,
Beijing, illustrated in Monochrome Porcelain. The Complete Collection
of the Treasures of the Palace Museum, Shanghai, 1999, p.28, no.25.
See also another similar dish with a rare six-character Yongzheng mark
within double squares in underglaze-blue (accession no.24.80.286),
bequeathed by Mary Clark Thompson to the Metropolitan Museum of
Art, New York, illustrated by Suzanne G. Valenstein, A Handbook of
Chinese Ceramics, Boston, 1975, p.221, no.157.
霽紅釉屬銅紅釉，是以含銅物質為著色劑，經還原焰燒成的紅色釉。然
而氧化銅在還原焰中的發色極難控制，因此燒製成功者稀少。霽紅於明
宣德開始最為著名，至明中期失傳，改燒礬紅，到清康熙朝便得以恢
復，此盤為雍正朝霽紅之典例。類似的例子，參看北京故宮博物院藏一
件霽紅釉盤，《故宮博物院藏文物珍品大系：顏色釉》，上海，1999，
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