Page 76 - Importan Chinese Art Christie's May 2018

Enamelled Porcelains of the Imperial Ateliers, National can be found on a number of fne 18th century enamelled
Palace Museum, Taipei, 1992, p. 42, no. 6. Another Kangxi porcelains, including a large Yongzheng dish from the Qing
yuzhi bowl with plain pale pink ground was exhibited Court Collection in the Palace Museum, Beijing, illustrated
in Hong Kong in Selected Treasures of Chinese Art - in Porcelains with Cloisonné Enamel Decoration and Famille
Thirtieth Anniversary Exhibition, Min Chiu Society, Hong Rose Decoration, The Complete Collection of Treasures of
Kong, 1990, p. 344-5, no. 157. A Qianlong teapot with the Palace Museum, Hong Kong, 1999, vol. 39, p. 67, no. 57.
pale pink scrolling ground surrounding panels containing
A diferent combination of three fowering plants - peonies,
delicately painted chrysanthemums and rocks is in the
collection of the Palace Museum, Beijing, see Kangxi lotus and plum blossom - adorns the circular panels
on either side of a Yongzheng moon fask decorated in
Yongzheng Qianlong - Qing Porcelain from the Palace
doucai technique in the collection of Shanghai Museum,
Museum Collection, Hong Kong, 1989, p. 365, no. 46. This
illustrated in Zhongguo taoci mingqi zhan, Shanghai
teapot, however, has the scrolls painted on the pale pink
bowuguan suozang, 1995, p. 87, no. 72. A comparable
ground in a slightly darker pink enamel, rather than being
incised into the pale pink enamel, as on the current fask. doucai moon fask bearing a Qianlong mark is in the
The pink areas on the Beijing teapot provide a ground Palace Museum collection, Beijing, see Porcelains in
for formal foral scrolls and blue archaistic kui dragons. Polychrome and Contrasting Colours, The Complete
Similar pale pink ground with scrolls painted in a darker Treasures of the Palace Museum, vol. 38, Commercial
pink providing the ground for coloured foral scrolls and Press, Hong Kong, 1999, p. 265, no. 243. Unlike the
blue archaistic kui dragons, can also be seen on a teapot current fask, however, these two doucai examples have
from the collection of Mr. C.P. Lin (illustrated by Rosemary cylindrical necks. A pair of Qianlong moon fasks with
Scott in Elegant Form and Harmonious Decoration – Four archaistic dragon handles in the Matsuoka Museum of
Dynasties of Jingdezhen Porcelain, London, 1992, p. 165, Art has a design of peonies and magnolia, somewhat
no. 190). Plain pale pink enamel ground with painted reminiscent of the design on the current fask, on one
formal fower scrolls, can be seen on the neck and foot of side and an inscription on the other. The Matsuoka fasks,
a square Qianlong vase, with squirrel and grape decoration which are slightly larger than the current vessel, do not
around the body, from the Qing imperial collection in the have bulb necks and have a dark ruby ground surrounding
Nanjing Museum (illustrated in Imperial porcelain of the the reserved circular panels, see Masterpieces of Oriental
Kangxi, Yongzheng and Qianlong Reigns, Nanjing, 1995, no. Ceramics from Matsuoka Museum of Art, Aichi Prefectural
88). There is, however, a Qianlong bowl with a design of Ceramic Museum, 1997, p. 44 no. 35.
scrolling fowers against an incised pale pink ground - the
Some of the minor decoration on the current fask can
incised scrolling decoration similar that on the current
also be seen on other fne imperial enamelled vessels
fask - in the National Palace Museum, Taipei, illustrated in
of the Qianlong reign. The band of blue and yellow ruyi
Porcelain of the National Palace Museum, Fine-Enamelled
heads around the mouth, for example, appears around
Ware of the Ch’ing Dynasty - Ch’ien-lung Period, II, Cafa,
the mouth of a number of Qianlong vessels with colour
Hong Kong, 1967, pp. 112-3, no. 35.
grounds, including a turquoise-ground vase with formal
The fower painting in the reserved panels on either side scrolling plant designs in the collection of the Palace
of the current fask is fnely executed and the same design Museum, Beijing, illustrated in Porcelains with Cloisonné
is seen on both sides – albeit with some small diferences Enamel Decoration and Famille Rose Decoration, op. cit., p.
in detail, such as on the rocks. The decorative combination 135, no. 118, a vase with lime green ground, foral scrolls
of white magnolia (yulan 玉蘭), crab apple (haitang 海棠) and reserved fower panels, also in the Palace Museum
and peonies (fuguihua 富貴花), seen in these panels, has and illustrated in the same volume, p. 141. No. 123, a vase
an auspicious meaning, since the names of the fowers with rouge red ground and foral scrolls from the Palace
combine to form a rebus for 玉堂富貴 yutang fugui ‘may Museum, also illustrated in Porcelains with Cloisonné
your noble house be blessed with wealth and honour’, Enamel Decoration and Famille Rose Decoration, op. cit., p.
since the frst character of magnolia and the second 145, no. 127, and a vase with gold ground, foral scrolls and
character of crab apple combine to provide a rebus for 玉堂 reserved fower panels in the Palace Museum, illustrated
yutang ‘jade hall’, which is an elegant way of referring to a in the same volume, p. 155, no. 137. The small upward-
wealthy household, while the peony is known as the fower pointing ruyi band with pink shading seen around the
of ‘wealth and honour’. The same combination of plants foot of the current fask can also be found, in the same