Page 83 - 2020 Sept Important Chinese Art Sotheby's NYC Asia Week

9/2/2020 Important Chinese Art | Sotheby's

Following the introduction of foreign enamels to the imperial court in Beijing, the mixing of the new opaque white enamel with
other colors and thereby yielding soft pastels, reached an extraordinary height during the Yongzheng reign (1723-1735). These so-
called ‘soft enamels’, which expanded the range of achievable colors, could be applied in tonal variations of light and dark washes,
effectively complementing the refined painting techniques of the imperial artisans in creating the most exquisite porcelain of
the period.

Brimming with auspicious connotations, the present bowl would have made a perfect birthday gift, as its pictorial decoration
ingeniously unites the Three Star Gods Fu Lu Shou Sanxing through rebuses: Fuxing, the God of Blessings, represented by the bats
(fu) painted on the in and outside of the bowl, Luxing, the God of Emolument, portrayed by the deer (lu) and Shoulao or Shouxing,
the Old Man of the Southern (Celestial) Pole. According to historical records, worship of the latter as a deity of longevity began
already with Qin Shi Huang (259-210 BC), and its imperial veneration has lasted ever since. See Stephen Little, Taoism and the
Arts of China, The Art Institute of Chicago, Chicago, 2000, p. 269, cat. no. 90 for an example of a Ming court painting depicting
Shoulao with a white deer, in the Palace Museum, Beijing.

Shoulao and figural scenes in general are, however, relatively rare on Yongzheng porcelain. The present figural composition devoid
of all background is particularly unusual. Related figural scenes typically appear in a landscape setting, and can be found on
various vessel shapes, unmarked or carrying a six-character Yongzheng reign mark. Compare, for example, a rectangular
brushpot, illustrated in Michel Beurdeley and Guy Raindre, Qing Porcelain, New York, 1987, pl. 128, from the collection of Benjamin
Chow, Hong Kong; and a teapot and a vase, both from the Qing Court Collection, published in Falangcai. Fencai / Porcelains with
Cloisonné Enamel Decoration and Famille Rose Decoration. Gugong Bowuyuan cang wenwu zhenpin quanji / The Complete
Collection of Treasures of the Palace Museum, Hong Kong, 1999, pls 50 and 54.

Other figural scenes, but painted in a famille-verte palette, can be seen on two Yongzheng period dishes with apocryphal Chenghua
marks, both in the Palace Museum, Beijing, illustrated in Mingdai Chenghua yuyao ciqi / Imperial Porcelains from the Reign of
Chenghua in the Ming Dynasty II, Beijing, 2016, pls 294-5; and on a bowl with a six-character Yongzheng reign mark, also in the
Palace Museum, Beijing, and illustrated in Gugong Bowuyuan cang wenwu zhenpin quanji / The Complete Collection of Treasures of
the Palace Museum. Wucai. Doucai / Porcelains in Polychrome and Contrasting Colours, Hong Kong, 1999, pl. 155.

粉彩瓷署青花「御製」款者極其罕有。觀本品紋飾，細膩雅緻，繪工精熟，當屬其中臻例，款風承宮中御作彩料「御製」款制式，應屬景
德鎮御窰專為宮廷御用燒製之品。

自康熙朝西方彩料引進宮廷，多種新穎色彩應運而生。至雍正一朝，此類飾瓷技法成就更上層樓，以玻璃白與其它色料混合使用，所成彩
色柔和細膩，色澤明暗，渲染細緻，變化萬千，可使御作藝匠高超畫工得以充分發揮，筆下紋飾生動輕靈，所成瓷品精美絕倫。

本品繪飾寓意吉祥，屬賀壽佳品，以祥蝠、靈鹿及壽老代表福祿壽三星。根據歷史文獻記載，壽星之傳統，始於秦始皇時代，後便一直延
續至今。參考一明代白鹿壽老圖例，北京故宮博物院收藏，載於史蒂芬•利特爾，《Taoism and the Arts of China》，芝加哥藝術博物
館，芝加哥，2000年，頁269，編號90。
壽老及人物紋飾，鮮見於雍正瓷器，如本品大量留白者，則更屬罕見。相關人物題材作例，多以山水為襯托，器型各異，無款或署雍正六
字年款，如比較一方筆筒例，載於 Michel Beurdeley 及 Guy Raindre，《Qing Porcelain》，紐約，1987年，圖版128，出自香港
Benjamin Chow 收藏；另比一茶壺及瓶例，清宮舊藏，載《故宮博物院藏文物珍品全集•琺瑯彩 粉彩》，香港，1999年，圖版50及54。

另可比較五彩例數品，繪人物紋飾，見兩雍正盤例，署成化仿款，藏北京故宮博物院，載於《明代成化御窰瓷器》，卷II，北京， 2016
年，圖版294及295；另比一盌例，署雍正六字年款，亦藏北京故宮博物院，圖載《故宮博物院藏文物珍品全集•五彩 鬪彩》，香港，
1999年，圖版155。

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