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           A FINE AND RARE RUBY-ENAMELED CUP,        清雍正 胭脂紅釉小盃 《大清雍正年製》款
           MARK AND PERIOD OF YONGZHENG
           the base with a six-character mark in underglaze blue within   來源
           a double square                           美國私人收藏,得於1971至1981年之間
           Diameter 3⅝ in., 9.1 cm
           PROVENANCE
           American Private Collection, acquired between 1971 and 1981.
           The present cup, with its charming proportions and vibrant
           ruby-red enamel, is an archetypal example of the Yongzheng
           aesthetic. Imbued with understated refinement and the
           result of technical and chemical mastery, the present cup is
           indicative of the remarkably fine ceramics produced in the
           early eighteenth century.
           Influenced by the advent of Jesuit technology in the final
           years of the Kangxi period, pink enamels of this type were
           soon developed and embraced by the imperial workshops.
           However, though few Kangxi examples of this type are known,
           it was not until the Yongzheng and Qianlong periods that this
           low-fired ruby-red enamel – produced in varying shades of
           pink – became a more prominent feature in the repertoire of
           Chinese ceramics. In fact, Tang Ying (1682-1756), the famed
           superintendent of the imperial kilns at Jingdezhen, referred to
           such vessels as ‘Western red-glazed wares’ in Taocheng jishi
           bei ji [Commemorative Stele on Ceramic Production].
           Deceptively simple in form and color, the manufacture of
           such monochrome cups demanded the highest level of skill
           and meticulous precision, from not only the potting and
           firing but also the application of the enamel, which entailed
           blowing carefully through a silk gauze-covered bamboo tube
           onto the biscuit to achieve the lightly speckled yet even
           effect seen on the current cup.
           A very small number of related Yongzheng cups is attested,
           produced in a range of similar shapes and sizes. Compare
           a slightly smaller cup of almost identical form, sold in our
           Hong Kong rooms, 7th October 2019, lot 3102; another
           slightly larger cup preserved in the Palace Museum, Beijing,
           illustrated in Kangxi, Yongzheng, Qianlong. Qing Porcelain
           from the Palace Museum Collection, Hong Kong, 1989, p. 303,
           pl. 132; another of broader proportions with the reign mark
           inscribed within a single circle, from the Avery Brundage
           Collection, now preserved in the Asian Art Museum of San
           Francisco, published on the Museum’s website (accession no.
           B60P2365); and a similar pair published in The Tsui Museum
           of Art, Hong Kong, 1991, pl. 126.
           $ 80,000-120,000
















           56      SOTHEBY’S        COMPLETE CATALOGUING AVAILABLE AT SOTHEBYS.COM/N11744                                                                                                                                           57
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