Page 16 - Sothebys Important Chinese Art April 3 2018

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PROPERTY OF A LADY 清雍正 金釉盤
AN EXTREMELY RARE GOLD-ENAMELLED 《大清雍正年製》款
DISH
來源：
MARK AND PERIOD OF YONGZHENG
Bluett & Sons Ltd，倫敦（標籤）
with shallow rounded sides resting on a short foot, richly 倫敦蘇富比1995年6月6日，編號244
covered overall save for the base with an even gold enamel, the 倫敦蘇富比2013年5月15日，編號169
white base inscribed in underglaze blue with a six-character
reign mark within a double circle 清康熙時期，皇帝致力恢復景德鎮御窰發展，創新品種湧
18.7 cm, 7⅜ in. 現，名冠後世。金釉為其中名貴品種，其製作工藝繁複，
先高溫燒製白瓷，於器面塗刷金粉，再置低溫窰爐烘燒成
PROVENANCE
器。雍正年間，承前朝遺風，延燒金釉名品，惟成品更為
Bluett & Sons Ltd, London (according to label).
Sotheby’s London, 6th June 1995, lot 244. 精緻華麗，甚為珍罕。
Sotheby’s London, 15th May 2013, lot 169.
HK$ 1,800,000-2,500,000
US$ 231,000-320,000
The use of the colour gold on porcelain was revived during
the Kangxi reign when new enamels were developed by
the imperial kilns in his endeavour to revitalise porcelain
production. Among these new enamels, gold was one of the
most prized, possibly due to its association with the Daoist
golden elixir of immortality (jindan). Vessels covered with
this luxurious glaze required an initial high-temperature firing
of the white-glazed body, followed by a layer of gold powder
brushed evenly on the surface, before a second firing at a
lower temperature. Despite its difficulty in production, gold-
enamelled vessels continued to be produced in the Yongzheng
period with much delicacy, resulting in finer yet rarer pieces,
such as the present dish.
A closely related dish, but of slightly smaller size, from the
collection of Ralph and Irene Beacon, was sold in our New York
rooms, 3rd December 1986, lot 267. Gold-enamelled vessels,
with Yongzheng marks and of the period, include a bowl sold
in these rooms, 20th May 1987, lot 500; another sold in our
London rooms, 5th November 2014, lot 14; a pair sold twice
in these rooms, 16th November 1988, lot 331, and again, 28th
April 1992, lot 79; and a cup in the Sir Percival David collection
and now in the British Museum, London, published in Margaret
Medley, Illustrated Catalogue of Ming and Qing Monochrome
Wares, London, 1989, pl. B598. An unmarked pair of bowls, in
the Meiyintang collection, is illustrated in Regina Krahl, Chinese
Ceramics from the Meiyintang Collection, vol. 2, London, 1994,
pl. 949. Compare also a vase, decorated with five dragons
rendered in famille-rose enamels against a gold ground, with a
Yongzheng reign mark and of the period, sold in our New York
rooms, 20th February 1975, lot 292, and again in our London
rooms, 7th November 2012, lot 101.
Gilt-decorated porcelain is known from as early as the Yuan
dynasty (1271-1368) and flourished into a monochrome glaze
in the early Ming dynasty (1364-1644); see a stem bowl, in the
collection of the Yomei Bunko, Tokyo, illustrated in Sekai toji
zenshu [Ceramic art of the world], vol. 11, Tokyo, 1955, pl. 95.

14 SOTHEBY’S 蘇富比