Page 85 - Sothebys Important Chinese Art April 3 2018

TRADITION AND

INNOVATION

A MAGNIFICENT YELLOW-GROUND
DRAGON TIANQIUPING

Visually striking and extremely rare, this magnificent vase The form, motif and palette of this vase are rooted in imperial
heralds the grandeur of the Qianlong Emperor and his porcelains of the early Ming. Tang Ying’s exposure to the
legitimacy to the throne as the ‘Son of Heaven’. The Chinese extensive court collection, gained from his employment by the
rulers believed they ruled by heavenly mandate and every Neiwufu (Imperial Household Department) in the Forbidden
element of the present piece serves symbolically to affirm City from the age of sixteen, was essential in understanding the
Qianlong as emperor, from the tianqiuping form to the dynamic vision of the Qianlong Emperor and materialising it in porcelain.
dragon motif and yellow enamel ground. It belongs to an Named after its resemblance to a planet, the tianqiuping was
exclusive group of yellow-ground wares that were inspired by first created under the Yongle Emperor (r. 1403-1424) and
early-Ming blue and white porcelain. This group boasts the Tang’s versions draw from those decorated with three-clawed
exceptional craftsmanship and creativity of potters working dragons of the Yongle and Xuande (r. 1426-35) reigns, which
under the supervision of Tang Ying (1682-1756), the brilliant were produced in several different versions; see two in the
Superintendent of the Imperial Kilns in Jingdezhen, who Palace Museum, Beijing, one with the dragon floating amongst
strived to cater to the taste of the emperor. By referencing lingzhi-shaped clouds and the other with the dragon incised
a celebrated design and form from China’s past and and reserved in white amid cobalt waves, illustrated in The
skilfully fusing it with a vibrant yellow enamel, the result is a Complete Collection of Treasures of the Palace Museum. Blue
spectacular piece that is at once familiar and innovative. and White Porcelain with Underglazed Red (I), Shanghai, 2000,
pls 87 and 88; and another depicting the dragon among lotus
This vase ranks among the largest tianqiuping created
scrolls, in the National Palace Museum, Taipei, included in the
during the Qing period, and no other closely related example
Museum’s exhibition Mingdai chunian ciqi tezhan mulu/Special
appears to be published. Only one other vase identical in
Exhibition of Early Ming Period Porcelain, 1982, cat. no. 5.
size, streamlined shape and design is known, but without the
yellow enamel ground, from the Naval and Military Club and These Ming prototypes were first recreated during the
the Jingguantang collection, and sold three times at Christie’s, Yongzheng period but, being direct imitations, they neither
in London, 28th June 1968, lot 53, twice in Hong Kong, 3rd capture the strength of the original designs, nor are they
November 1996, lot 553, and 30th October 2001, lot 805, and infused with the vibrancy of the Qianlong versions; see three
a fourth time in these rooms, 25th April 2004, lot 309 (fig. 1). from the Qing court collection and still in Beijing, published
Notably, both tianqiuping also illustrate a three-clawed dragon, in The Complete Collection (III), op. cit., pl. 81, depicting the
a direct allusion to the fifteenth century prototype, and a five- dragon amongst lotus scrolls, pl. 102, the dragon incised
clawed imperial dragon. Compare also a tianqiuping of this and reserved in white, and 197, painted with a copper-red
form and size, but decorated with two five-clawed dragons, dragon. The dragons on these Yongzheng vases have all
with a Qianlong reign mark and of the period, sold in our the characteristics found on the Ming period version: three
London rooms, 13th November 2002, lot 13; and another, of claws and the characteristic blunt nose, strained bulging eyes
marginally smaller size and potted with a more globular body, beneath rich lashes and an especially pronounced antler-form
sold in these rooms, 1st November 1999, lot 382, and twice at horn.
Christie’s Hong Kong, 27th October 2003, lot 636, and 27th
November 2007, lot 1688.

IMPORTANT CHINESE ART 83