Page 15 - SOTHEBYS MARCH 18 AND 19 2025

Fig 1. An extremely rare small imperial ruby-ground ‘yangcai’ ‘floral’ cup, Yongzheng yuzhi
mark and period, sold at Sotheby’s Hong Kong, 11th April 2008, lot 3022.
圖1 清雍正 洋彩胭脂紅地九秋同慶紋小盃 《雍正御製》款，2008年4月11日售於香港
蘇富比，拍品3022

This cup is a rare and exceptionally fine example of a much Cups of this specific decoration and miniature size are
coveted group of vessels, with delicate floral designs in extremely rare. Unlike most other enamel designs of this
enamel on dark red grounds, bearing the yuzhi mark of the period which closely follow designs already embraced
Yongzheng Emperor. by the Kangxi court, the present design appears to have
no antecedent and represents a truly novel Yongzheng
This mark, indicating a piece was made ‘for the imperial innovation. Compare a pair of this size and design, preserved
use,’ was first employed in the imperial enameling in the National Palace Museum, Taipei, illustrated in
workshops of Beijing during the final years of the Kangxi Porcelain with Painted Enamels of Qing Yongzheng Period
reign (1662–1722). Indicating a closer relationship to the (1723–1735), Taipei, 2013, cat. no. 22; another, featuring the
imperial court than the more common nianzhi [made in design on a coral ground, sold at Christie’s Hong Kong, 30th
the years of…] mark, pieces bearing a yuzhi mark are October 1995, lot 717; and another almost identical cup but
exceedingly rare and coveted by collectors. Unlike the with a nianzhi mark, from the collection of the T. Y. Chao
more typical pink or blue enamel yuzhi marks of the Kangxi Family Foundation, included in Ming and Ch’ing Porcelain
and Yongzheng reigns, however, the present example has from the Collection of T.Y. Chao Family Foundation, Hong
been rendered in underglaze cobalt blue, presumably at Kong Museum of Art, Hong Kong, 1978, cat. no. 99, sold at
the imperial kilns of Jingdezhen. With almost identical Christie’s Hong Kong, 27th April 1997, lot 55, and again in
bowls attested with underglaze-blue nianzhi marks, the our Hong Kong rooms, 11th April 2008, lot 3022 (Fig. 1).
question of these yuzhi pieces continues to be debated in
the scholarship. It has been suggested by some that these A slightly more common, though still extremely rare,
bowls were first fired with just their mark at Jingdezhen variation of this floral design – derived directly from a Kangxi
before being sent to Beijing to be enameled. More likely, prototype – is also attested on Yongzheng period bowls of
however, this group simply represents an early cutting- various sizes. Compare a slightly larger yuzhi-marked bowl of
edge attempt to imitate Beijing enamels directly in the latter design in the British Museum, London, illustrated
Jingdezhen. In his seminal work on the topic of painted in Hugh Moss, op. cit., pl. 5; another, larger still, preserved in
enamels, Hugh Moss argues that the enamel palette of this the Victoria and Albert Museum, London, illustrated by Rose
group also supports their Jingdezhen origin, as the imperial Kerr in Chinese Ceramics. Porcelain of the Qing Dynasty,
potteries continued to follow the verdant style of the Kangxi London, 1986, pl. 93; and a Kangxi yuzhi prototype in the
period well into the Yongzheng reign even following the Palace Museum, Beijing, published in Kangxi, Yongzheng,
advent of famille rose enamels; see Hugh Moss, By Imperial Qianlong. Qing Porcelain from the Palace Museum Collection,
Command, Hong Kong, 1976, p. 82. Hong Kong, 1989, pl. 87.

26 SOTHEBY’S COMPLETE CATALOGUING AVAILABLE AT SOTHEBYS.COM/N11744 PROPERTY FROM CARNEGIE MUSEUM OF ART, SOLD TO BENEFIT THE ACQUISITION FUND 27