Page 70 - The Parry Collection Bonhams London November 2 2021

Images courtesy of the Palace Museum, Beijing

Very delicately potted, ‘Month cups’ were painted in the fine wucai The inscription of the present cup reads:
palette of underglaze blue and overglaze enamels, which was devised Xiao yan yuan fen jin zhang lu, chun feng shen re yu tang feng
during the Ming dynasty, but rarely used during the Qing dynasty, when
the underglaze colour was generally omitted. Which may be translated as:
‘The radiant peony is worthy of the Immortals’ dew; its fragrance is
‘Month cups’ were made at the Imperial kilns during the Kangxi carried far on the spring breeze from the palatial halls’.
reign. A different cup was made for each month of the lunar calendar.
Underglaze-blue designs were usually painted on the unglazed body. The twelve flowers painted on the ‘Month cups’ were selected
These cups were so thinly potted that the cobalt blue decoration on following the traditions of the Flower Festival, which fell on the 15th
their exterior can be seen through the eggshell porcelain from the day of the second month in the Chinese calendar, signifying the arrival
interior of the vessel. Slight differences in size, colours, calligraphic of springtime and celebrated the birthday of all flowers. The Flower
styles and even marks between the individual cups suggest that they Festival was highly popular during the Qing dynasty. On this day,
may not even have originally been conceived as sets of twelve, rather, people made coloured paper flowers or decorated trees and plants
they could have been issued consecutively, as the year evolved, to be with coloured ribbons. Memorials were also erected for the Gods of
finally assembled as a set at the end. Flowers and can still be found in the Summer Palace in Jehol, attesting
to the popularity of this festival amongst the members of the Qing
The poems inscribed on the ‘Month cups’ are all couplets from Tang Court. It is thus possible that the ‘Month cups’ were employed during
dynasty poems. The Kangxi Emperor greatly admired Tang poems as the commemorative ceremonies for the Flower Gods.
demonstrated in ordering the compilation of all recorded Tang poems in
1705, on the 44th year of his reign. This project came into fruition under A complete set of famille verte ‘Month cups’, Kangxi marks and period,
the leadership of the official Cao Yin, when the ‘Complete Collection also including a very similar cup to the present example in the Qing
of Tang Poems’ Quan Tangshu was published in 1706, including over Court Collection, is illustrated in The Complete Collection of Treasures
40,000 poems and a foreword written by the Kangxi Emperor himself; from the Palace Museum: Porcelains in Polychrome and Contrasting
see R.Scott, For the Imperial Court. Qing Porcelain from the Percival Colours, Hong Kong, 1999, pp.152-153, no.140; another complete
David Foundation of Chinese Art, New York, 1997, pp.82-83. It is thus set is in the Sir Percival David Collection, British Museum, London,
likely that these delicate ‘Month cups’, decorated with poems favoured illustrated by R.Scott, ibid., pp.82-83, no.23; and a further one is in the
by the Emperor, were made during the later period of the Kangxi reign, Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, acc.no.50.145.267–.278.
when the compendium of Tang poetry was published.
Compare with a similar famille verte ‘peony’ Month cup, Kangxi six-
Each cup has a specific floral decoration and is usually accompanied character mark and of the period, which was sold at Christie’s Hong
by a seasonal couplet from a Tang poem. Kong, 29 May 2013, lot 1913.

68 | BONHAMS