Page 33 - 2019 October Important Chinese Art Sotheby's Hong Kong

fig. 2 fig. 3
One of a pair of famille-rose bowls with prunus, bamboo and One of a pair of famille-rose cups with prunus, bamboo and
lingzhi, mark and period of Yongzheng lingzhi, mark and period of Yongzheng
© Baur Museum. Photo Marian Gérard. © Baur Museum. Photo Marian Gérard.
圖二 圖三
清雍正 粉彩春梅靈芝盌一對之一 《大清雍正年製》款 清雍正 粉彩春梅靈芝盃一對之一 《大清雍正年製》款
© 鮑氏東方藝術館藏 Marian Gérard 攝 © 鮑氏東方藝術館藏 Marian Gérard 攝

Colllection, Geneva, 1999, nos A 590 and A 591 (fig. 2), the 17th and early 18th centuries. Also referred to as the
together with a pair of matching cups, ibid., A 592 and A 593. ‘Orthodox Masters’, the group included the landscape artist,
(fig. 3) In his cataloguing of the Baur bowls, Ayers mentions Wu Li (1632-1718), and the ‘Four Wangs’, Wang Shimin
the present bowl as a closely comparable example. Another (1592-1680), Wang Jian (1598-1677), Wang Hui (1632-1717)
slightly larger bowl (fig. 4) finely painted with flowering and Wang Yuanqi (1642-1715) and Yun Shouping. The ‘Six
prunus branches emanating from the base together with Masters’ continued the tradition of the scholar-painter,
delicate tufts of bamboo leaves and a spray of lingzhi fungus, following the precepts laid down by the late Ming artist and
formerly in the collection of William Kenneth Slatcher C.V.O. critique, Dong Qichang (1555-1636). Their paintings highlight
(1926-1997), High Commissioner of the United Kingdom, the importance of the brushwork technique and display the
was sold in our Paris rooms, 23rd June 2016, lot 93. A dish, beauty of the subject matter through the subtle and cautious
also from the Baur collection, painted with variations of application of ink. However, it was Yun who, for the first time
gnarled branches of flowering prunus, peach and camellia, in China’s painting tradition, adopted the technique and
accompanied by tufts of bamboo but lacking the lingzhi is approach of sketching from life, making his compositions
included in ibid., A589, and also on the front cover. more realistic and accurately life-like than many of his
contemporaries and predecessors. For example, his floral
Also notable in the decoration of the bowl is the technique paintings included in the Album of Imitating Antiquity display
with which the flowers are rendered. The style of the the use of mineral pigments for lead white to complement
blossoming branches is reminiscent of the work of Yun
Shouping (1633–1690), one of the ‘Six Masters’ active in the rouge-pink in a similar fashion as seen on the blooms

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