Page 154 - Christie's King St, November 8, 2016

Fine, imperial painted enamels on metal were created in China
as a direct result of the Kangxi Emperor’s fascination with
imported enamelled wares from Europe. In order to ensure
that the best enamelled wares could be produced for his court
he established imperial ateliers and enlisted the talents of
both glass-makers and the European Jesuit artists in order to
facilitate their development. The appearance of ‘Kangxi yuzhi’
marks – unframed, inside double circles, as in the case of the
current vase, or inside double squares – on a number of the
surviving examples provides an indication of the Emperor’s
close personal attachment to these pieces.
This exquisitely decorated small vase can probably be dated
to the latter years of the Kangxi reign, possibly to the period
AD 1700-22, since a fully developed enamel palette has been
used to great efect in its painted decoration. The delicately-
painted fowers are rendered in both pink and blue enamels,
of types which were not successfully prepared in the imperial
ateliers until around 1700. Indeed this vase can be seen
as a celebration of these new enamel colours and the way
they could be used to create painterly, but at the same time
jewel-like, decoration. A similar palette can be seen on a small the collection of the Tokyo National Museum (see Ceramic Art
white-ground lobed box, also with Kangxi yuzhi mark, in the
collection of the National Palace Museum, Taipei (see Enamel
Ware in the Ming and Qing Dynasties, Taipei, 1999, p. 172, no.
82), which also bears a blue Kangxi yuzhi mark. The painting
on the current vase is, however, executed with even greater
sophistication.
Imperial enamelled wares with white grounds are particularly
rare, since the majority of Kangxi enamel on metal vessels
have yellow grounds. A slightly larger white-ground enamelled
vase with fared mouth is in the collection of the National
Palace Museum, Taipei (see Enamel Ware in the Ming and Qing
Dynasties, Taipei, 1999, pp. 176-7, no. 85), while another is in 94. The stylised lotus scheme on the current vase is especially
the collection of the Palace Museum, Beijing (see Metal-bodied
Enamel Ware, The Complete Collection of Treasures of the
Palace Museum, 43, Hong Kong, 2002, p. 183, no. 174). A
slightly smaller white ground enamelled Kangxi yuzhi vase with
columnar neck, from a French private collection, was sold by
Christie’s Hong Kong on 30 May 2012, lot 4018. All these vases
bear Kangxi yuzhi marks.
152 FINE CHINESE CERAMICS AND WORKS OF ART
It is notable that the white ground on the current vase adds
to the delicacy of its appearance. In the Kangxi reign the
decorators at the imperial ateliers found many aesthetically
pleasing ways to manipulate the fowers and leaves of
lotuses. The four main fowers on the current vase represent
a particularly successful example of this. On two sides of the
body of the vase a fully opened blue lotus blossom is painted
against fve, evenly spaced, stylised, pink lotus leaves. At
frst glance these pink leaves look like large petals, especially
as tendrils appear in four of the gaps between the leaves.
However, the fact that they are lotus leaves is made clear on
the other two sides, where a pink lotus blossom is displayed
against fve naturally coloured lotus leaves painted in green
with browning edges. The depiction of browning edges on
lotus leaves is a noticeable feature of enamel decoration on
imperial porcelain in the Kangxi period, and can be seen on
imperial famille verte porcelains such as the ‘Birthday’ plate
in the Percival David collection (see Sekai Toji Zenshu, vol. 15,
Qing, p. 19, pl. 9). The use of stylised lotus blossoms and leaves
to create decorative designs on Chinese ceramics can be seen
as early as the Tang Dynasty, for instance on a tripod tray in
of the World vol. 11 - Sui and T’ang Dynasties, Tokyo, 1976, p. 78,
pl. 58).
The Kangxi interest in stylisation and manipulation of
natural objects to form efective patterns can be seen in the
disposition of butterfies to form roundels, as on a Kangxi
enamel dish in the collection of the Palace Museum, Beijing
(see Metal-bodied Enamel Ware, The Complete Collection of
Treasures of the Palace Museum, 43, op. cit., p. 190, no. 181)
and the disposition of phoenixes on a Kangxi enamel plate
in the collection of the National Palace Museum, Taipei (see
Enamel Ware in the Ming and Qing Dynasties, op. cit., p. 193, no.
efective, and is complemented by the mixed foral scrolls
which decorate the neck and shoulder of the vessel. The
classic scrolls which encircles the foot of the current vase and
the squared-spiral band which appears at the top of the neck
are both painted with care and delicacy and do not detract
from the primary decoration.