Page 18 - Christie's, Important Chinese Works of Art December 2, 2015 HK

A Magnificent Octagonal Flask
with Ge-type Glaze
Rosemary Scott
International Academic Director Asian Art
The arts made for the Yongzheng emperor are noted for their
refined taste and their exquisite craftsmanship. The emperor
was an extremely demanding patron, and the items made for
him during his years as an imperial prince as well as those made
during his relatively short reign reflect his exacting standards, and ancient playthings) and depict a range of antiques in bronze, jade
have thus always been highly regarded by connoisseurs.
Prince Yinzhen, who was to rule as the Yongzheng emperor did
not ascend the throne until he was 45 years of age, and died
when he was 58, so the greater part of his life was spent as a
prince. He was a very diligent ruler, but enjoyed pastimes such
as reading, playing musical instruments, playing chess, painting,
and collecting art and antiquities. In one famous portrait of
the emperor he is shown seated reading (illustrated in China -
The Three Emperors 1662-1795, E. S. Rawski and J. Rawson eds.,
London, 2005, p. 246, no. 165), and on his right is an archaic jade
cong, which he is using as a brush-pot. It is interesting to note
antiques being included in this and several other portraits of the
Yongzheng Emperor. In a painting entitled ‘Yongzheng Sitting
in the Langyin Pavilion’ there is an ancient bronze ding tripod
on the table behind him, along with various accoutrements of a
scholar (illustrated in The Complete Collection of Treasures of the
Palace Museum 14 Paintings by the Court Artists of the Qing Court,
p. 73, no. 10). Amongst the series of paintings of The Yongzheng
Emperor’s Amusements of the Twelve Months, one painting shows
the emperor reading with his feet resting on a brazier entitled
Yongzheng Reading by a Burner (illustrated in Harmony and Integrity
- TheYongzheng Emperor and His Times, Taipei, 2009, pp. 118-19, no.
I-58). To the emperor’s right is an elaborate series of cupboards
and display shelves, on which can be seen books and art objects,
including antiques. One of the vases shown appears to have a Ge-
type glaze.
Yongzheng’s passion for antiques is made even clearer by the
existence of two long hand scrolls - one in the collection of Sir
Percival David and the other in the Victoria and Albert Museum,
London. These hand scrolls are from a series of scrolls painted in
16
1728 and 1729. The David Foundation scroll is number 6, dated
to AD 1728, while the V&A scroll is number 8, dated to AD
1729 (illustrated in China - The Three Emperors 1662-1795, op. cit.,
pp. 252-55) . The extant scrolls are entitled Guwan tu (Pictures of
and hardstones, wood and ceramics. At the left-hand end of the
Percival David scroll is an imperial throne, empty as if waiting for
Yongzheng to take his seat and peruse his treasures.
Both of these scrolls depict a number of ceramics which have
subtly-coloured crackled glazes of Guan or Ge type - further
evidence of the Yongzheng Emperor’s admiration for these ancient
crackle-glazed wares. It is not surprising, therefore to note that a
number of the Yongzheng ceramics in a variety of forms preserved
in the Palace collections in Beijing and Taipei have glazes of this
type - for example those illustrated in Harmony and Integrity - The
Yongzheng Emperor and His Times, op. cit., p. 204, no. II-30, pp. 222-
3, nos. II-48 and II-49, p. 225, no. II-51, p. 234, no. II-60. Like the
current flask, each of these vessels from Beijing and Taipei has a
six-character underglaze blue seal mark.
Both as a prince and after he ascended the throne, the Yongzheng
emperor took a keen and active interest in the arts created for
the court. One of the areas in which he had a particular interest
was the production of imperial porcelain, and a major feature of
the ceramics made for the Yongzheng Emperor was a reflection
of his interest in antiques. This manifested itself in both the
forms and glazes of the products of the imperial kilns. Glazes
made in imitation of Song dynasty Guan and Ge wares, but
applied to porcelain bodies, appeared at the Ming imperial kilns
during both the Xuande and Chenghua reigns, but in the Qing
Yongzheng reign the Song style crackled glazes reached new
heights. A great deal of research and development at the imperial
kilns was undertaken under the auspices of both Nian Xiyao
and Tang Ying, at the behest of the emperor, and this included
the development of a huge range of new monochrome colours,
including archaistic crackled glazes. Tang Ying in particular was