Page 64 - 2019 October Important Chinese Art Sotheby's Hong Kong

fig. 1 fig. 2
‘Brewing Tea by Hui Spring’, Qing Gaozong yuzhi shiwen quan ji [Anthology of impe- Turquoise-ground famille-rose ‘Hui Mountain Retreat’ teapot and
rial Qianlong poems], Yuzhi shi er ji [imperial poems, vol. 2], juan 24, p. 4 cover, seal mark and period of Qianlong
formerly in the collection of Mrs Murrell R. Werth
圖一
〈汲惠泉烹竹罏歌〉，《清高宗御製詩文全集．御製詩二集》，卷24，頁4 Sotheby’s New York, 13th/14th September 2016, lot 261
圖二
清乾隆 粉彩描金松石綠地惠山煮泉觀卷圖茶壺 《大清乾隆年製》款
Murrell R. Werth 夫人舊藏
紐約蘇富比2016年9月13/14日，編號261

by the Qianlong Emperor, Zhulu zhucha tu [Brewing Tea in Another Qianlong imperial teapot of this form, painted with
a Retreat]. The remaining stele are now preserved inside figures drinking tea in a garden pavilion on one side and an
the Hui Park in Wuxi City. Given the Qianlong Emperor’s imperial poem on the other, the two panels against a flower
attachment to the Hui Mountain retreat, it seems likely that scroll-decorated yellow ground that continues onto the knop
the scholar depicted in the painting on the present teapot is of the cover, sold in these rooms, 31st October 1974, lot
intended to represent the Emperor himself. 316, and subsequently in the K.S. Lo collection, is illustrated
in Hugh Moss, By Imperial Command, Hong Kong, 1976, pl.
A closely related example from the collection of Mrs Murrell 86. Moss notes that the distinctive nature and quality of this
R. Werth was sold in our New York rooms, 13th/14th teapot suggest that it was clearly made for the court and
September 2016, lot 261 (fig. 2). A third teapot of this type,
but with the outdoor pavilion scene and inscription panels possibly for the Emperor’s own use illustrating the shift of
surrounded by feathery iron-red scrolls and scattered imperial patronage from the Palace workshops in Beijing to
the imperial kilns at Jingdezhen during the reign of Qianlong.
flower heads, from the Qing Court collection and still in He further notes that it may have been inspired by the
Beijing, is published in The Complete Collection of Treasures
of the Palace Museum. Porcelains with Cloisonné Enamel artistic genius of Tang Ying (1682-1756), Superintendent of
Decoration and Famille Rose Decoration, Hong Kong, 1999, the Imperial Kilns at Jingdezhen (see p. 85). Compare also a
teapot of domed form with flared neck, similarly decorated
pl. 108. A distinguishing element of these three teapots is the with a tea preparation scene and inscription on the reverse
knop, which is decorated on all three examples with a lotus in
iron red and gilding. against a yellow ground adorned with flower scrolls, from
the collection of Hong and David Cho, sold in our New York
rooms, 22nd March 2000, lot 135, and again in these rooms,
9th October 2007, lot 1212.

62 SOTHEBY ’S IMPORTANT CHINESE ART