Page 91 - Wolly & Wallace, July 1, 2020 Chinese Works of Art UK

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A RARE CHINESE BAMBOO GILT AND LACQUERED SCHOLAR’S TEAPOT
AND COVER
YONGZHENG/QIANLONG
The compressed circular body with a loop handle and spout, with gilt ruyi-heads centred
by red lacquer encircling the rim, the cover decorated with two flowers set amidst stylised
leafy tendrils and delicate scrollwork, the recessed base incised Jiezhai zao which can be
translated as ‘made in the studio of restraint’, 12.1cm. (2)
£1,500-2,500
Cf. Christie’s Hong Kong, 2nd December 2015, lot 3139 for another bamboo root teapot
and cover with this mark; see also Bonhams Hong Kong, 28th November 2011, lot 250 for a
Yongzheng Yixing inkstone and lacquer box decorated with comparable gilt scrolls.
The lacquer decoration on this unusual bamboo teapot is comparable to that on Japanese
lacquer pieces, particularly the delicate scrollwork to the cover and band of foliage resembling
karakusa scrolls. The Yongzheng Emperor is known to have greatly admired Japanese works of
art and aesthetics, and he was especially fond of Japanese maki-e lacquer with gold decoration.
There were a large number of Japanese maki-e pieces in the collection of the Qing court.
However, the Yongzheng Emperor’s appreciation for Japanese lacquer led him not only to collect
pieces made in Japan, but also to order imitation works from domestic Imperial workshops.
Yongzheng is believed to have been the first Qing emperor to commission such imitation pieces,
and this was to be continued by his son the Qianlong Emperor. These imitation pieces appear to
have been valued as equal to rather than inferior to authentic Japanese examples. Aside from
pure imitations, Yongzheng also encouraged the application of Japanese lacquerware designs on
other media, including porcelain and enamel. An enamelled gilt-copper inro-style case produced
in the Qing court workshops and now in the National Palace Museum collection is one example
of these kind of pieces produced under the Yongzheng Emperor’s reign.
For a more in-depth discussion on Japanese lacquer in 18th century China,
see K Kleutghen, Imports and Imitations: The Taste for Japanese Lacquer
in Eighteenth-Century China and France, Journal for Early Modern Cultural
Studies, vol.17, no.2, Spring 2017, pp.175-206.
清雍正/乾隆 竹雕鎏金加彩茶壺
《節齋造》款

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