Page 116 - The Parry Collection Bonhams London November 2 2021

Images courtesy of the National Palace Museum, Taipei

This present teapot is the only known example of this unique form On the Twenty-seventh of the of the Twelfth month of this year, chief
and type to remain in a private collection. It is one of only three Wu Shu presented the pair of small painted enamel teapots and the
examples known, with the other two in museum collections: the first is model to eunuch Mao Tuan for inspection.’
in the collection of the National Palace Museum, Taipei, illustrated by
H.Chen, Enamel Ware in the Ming and Ch’ing Dynasties, Taipei, 1999, This extraordinary Imperial Archival record proves that the Parry
pp.224-225, no.114; and the second is in the collection of the Nelson- teapot, the National Palace Museum, Taipei one and the Nelson-Atkins
Atkins Museum of Art, Kansas City, Missouri (acc.no.50-24.1,2), which Museum example, were made in the Beijing Imperial Enamel Workshop
was purchased for the museum in 1950 by the William Rockhill Nelson early in the Qianlong reign, and indeed this select group demonstrates
Trust from C.T. Loo & Co., New York. The National Palace Museum, direct continuity of style from the preceding Yongzheng period. It also
Taipei teapot and the Nelson-Atkins Museum one are both identically demonstrates that they were made as a special commission for the
decorated and with very similar dragon handle and spout, however use of the Qianlong Emperor, and that they deserved his personal
they all slightly differ, as well as the Parry one, in the form of the finial attention. The record also provides us with the location for two
on the cover. teapots, as decreed by the Qianlong Emperor - the Qianqing Palace, in
the Forbidden City, Beijing, where other treasured objects were kept by
Importantly, a pair of similar melon-shaped teapots, are both recorded the Emperor. As noted by Zhang Rong in her essay in this Catalogue,
in the Zaobanchu gezuo chengzuo huaji qingdang ‘Archives of the it is interesting to note that that the National Palace Museum, Taipei
Workshop of the Qing Imperial Household Department’ (for a full teapot has a collection number from the stock taking in 1925, locating
discussion see the essay by Zhang Rong, Palace Museum, Beijing). it at the time in the Yangxin Hall, ‘Hall of Mental Cultivation’.
An Imperial Decree by the Qianlong Emperor, dated to the second day
of the fifth month of the fifth year of his reign (corresponding to 24th May This important teapot was included in the International Exhibition of
1740) states: Chinese Art held at the Royal Academy of Arts, Burlington House,
London, in 1935-1936. This seminal exhibition had the patronage of
‘In the fifth year of the Qianlong reign, Qianqing Palace, on the second their Majesties King George V and Queen Mary, and the President of
day of the fifth month, Chief commissioner Samuha of the seventh rank the Chinese Republic. It included over 3,000 objects, with important
said that the eunuch Gao Yu and others presented two painted enamel loans from the Chinese Government, and many worldwide museums
melon-lobed teapots. The decree was passed, and the matching case and private collections, notably that of Sir Percival David – the roll call
was placed in the Qianqing Palace with the enamel vessels. By order of the greatest collectors of Chinese art in the west in the 20th century.
of the Emperor.’ E.A. Parry loaned 6 pieces to the Exhibition, demonstrating the superb
quality of the Collection and the high esteem in which it was held by
An earlier Archival record, dated to the third year of the Qianlong reign, the exhibition committee, which was directed by Sir Percival David.
corresponding to 1738, records that a single enamel teapot was made These pieces were admired to this date in the Parry family homes and
and a further pair was subsequently made by order of the Emperor. this is the first time since the 1935-1936 Exhibition that they are seen
in public once again. The painted enamel section in the catalogue
‘The Third year of Qianlong, Enamel Workshop. On the Eighteenth included about 20 exhibits, two of which belonged to E.A. Parry,
day of the Third month, chief Wu Shu said that the eunuch Mao Tuan including the present teapot.
presented a small painted enamel copper body teapot. The Decree
was passed that another pair should be made according to this.
By order of the Emperor.

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