Page 99 - Sothebys Important Chinese Art April 3 2018

Gracefully potted with rounded shoulders and a dainty mouth, Museum. Chinese Ceramics II, Tokyo, 1990, pl. 570 (fig. 1).
this meiping vase epitomises a classic porcelain form produced A further unmarked example painted with four copper-red
in China for over a thousand years that was greatly favoured fruiting sprays divided by underglaze-blue line borders,
by emperors of the Ming (1368-1644) and Qing (1644-1911) was sold in these rooms, 21st May 1985, lot 143. See also a
dynasties. The Qianlong reign marked the pinnacle of meiping Qianlong-marked copper-red meiping, with broader shoulders
production, and saw a prolific and diverse range of sizes, and more exaggerated proportions, illustrated in The Complete
glaze palette and decorative pattern in this form. The present Collection of Treasures of the Palace Museum. Blue and White
meiping, silhouetted with full curving shoulders, differs from Porcelain with Underglazed Red (III), Hong Kong, 2000, pl.
contemporaneous pieces of this type which are usually potted 173. The Palace Museum example is painted with peach,
with broader and relatively plateaued shoulders. This unusual pomegranate and finger citron forming the sanduo (‘Three
treatment is reminiscent of earlier Ming-dynasty prototypes. abundances’), which differentiates from the arrangement of
Intricately painted in delicate copper-red tones with flowering five fruiting sprays in double register as seen on the present
and fruiting sprays bearing symbolic references to longevity piece.
and fertility, the present vase exemplifies the masterful skill of
Qing potters and appears to be unique. Precise calculation and stringent measures must be
implemented to regulate the firing conditions in order to
Vessels of this form first appeared in the Tang dynasty (618- ensure successful firing of a beautiful underglaze copper-red
907) and gained popularity in the Song period (960-1279). tone. According to the palace records in 1738, the Qianlong
Although originally destined as wine containers in the Yuan Emperor rejected an underglaze-red meiping painted with
(1279-1368) and Ming dynasties, vessels of this elegant shape dragons for its unsatisfactory hue and demanded another
later earned their title as meiping or ‘prunus vase’, and were attempt for a better colour, see Feng Xianming, op.cit., p. 232.
transformed into decorative flower vases. In the early-Ming The brilliant red tone of the present piece, executed to utmost
dynasty, under court supervision, the imperial kilns produced precision, is an exemplary example of its type and token of
blue-and-white meiping of perfect proportions, potted with success achieved by the imperial kiln.
small mouths and rounded shoulders and sparsely painted
with fruit sprays. See also a Qianlong blue-and-white meiping painted with three
flowering and fruiting sprays in alternating double register,
The Qianlong Emperor commissioned close copies of early- inspired by a Yongle prototype, published in Chinese Porcelain.
Ming porcelains, including those from the Yongle period, The S.C. Ko Tianminlou Collection, Hong Kong, 1987, cat.
but often mistakenly categorised them as ‘Xuande wares’. no. 63. In this book, Julian Thompson pointed out that Qing
For example, in the third year of the Qianlong period (1738), reinventions of early-Ming porcelains are usually finished with
the Emperor instructed a eunuch to send two early-Ming more orderly compositions and delicately painted decorations
meiping to Jingdezhen to be copied by Tang Ying, the greatest (p. 30).
porcelain superintendent in Chinese history. These were
described as ‘a Xuande blue-and-white meiping’ and ‘a Xuande The present meiping has an illustrious provenance; it was
blue-and-white meiping with Three Fruit design’, see Feng formerly in the collection of Sir Harry Garner, KBE, CB,
Xianming, Annotated Collection of Historical Documents on Litt.D (1891-1977), who was a distinguished mathematician,
Ancient Chinese Ceramics, Taipei, 2000, pp. 230-232. famous scholar, collector, and once President of the Oriental
Ceramic Society (1967-1970). He authored several standard
Despite an ardent passion to recreate early-Ming porcelain reference works on Chinese art, for example, on blue-and-
vases, the Qianlong Emperor rarely used Yongle meiping with white porcelain, lacquer ware and cloisonné enamels, and
fruit and flower designs as his archetypal model, consequently donated much of his vast collection of Chinese ceramics and
Qianlong meiping of similar form painted in copper red would other works of art to the British Museum and the Victoria and
have been an even rarer occurrence. An unmarked meiping Albert Museum, London. The vase was also published by the
of a slender shape with smooth shoulders, from a Japanese renowned Chinese scholar Soame Jenyns as early as 1951 in
collection, is included in Illustrated Catalogue of Tokyo National Later Chinese Porcelain, op.cit. (fig. 2).

IMPORTANT CHINESE ART 97