Page 32 - Sothebys HK Dragon Emperor April 2024

With their simple forms and subdued enamel, the Yongzheng period, however, appear to be extremely rare.
present pair of cups is an archetypal realisation of A Kangxi pair is in the British Museum, no. 1945,1016.8-
the Yongzheng Emperor's aesthetic for understated 9, published in Shelagh J. Vainker, Chinese Pottery and
refinement and the technical developments in ceramic Porcelain, London, 1991, pl. 158; a single one in the Baur
production in the 18th century. Delicately potted, the Collection, Geneva, is illustrated in John Ayers, The Baur
cups are perfectly proportioned with gently flaring sides Collection Geneva: Chinese Ceramics, Geneva, 1968-74,
enamelled with an irresistible shade of peach-petal vol. III, pl. A 482; and another cup, formerly in Mossette
pink. By virtue of the influence of Jesuit technology, pink Levaur Keyzer-André and Meiyintang collections,
enamel of this type was developed in China in the final was sold in these rooms, 9th October 2012, lot 1. For
years of the Kangxi period, but very few early examples Yongzheng ruby-pink vessels of this form and size but
are known. It was not until the Yongzheng and Qianlong further adorned in famille-rose with berries and seeds
periods that the low-fired ruby-red enamel – which came inside, see a pair of cups sold in these rooms, 6th April
in varying shades of pink – became a more prominent 2016, lot 3018.
feature in the repertoire of Chinese ceramics.
Two larger bowls with everted rims, seemingly decorated
Deceptively simple, producing such monochrome cups in a creamy pink tone, are in the Grandidier Collection at
demanded the highest level of skill and meticulous Musée national des arts asiatiques-Guimet, Paris, nos G
precision, from potting to firing. The enamel colour 1642 and G 2395. Compare another pair of Yongzheng
was derived from colloidal gold combined with an ruby-pink cups decorated with lychee in famille-rose in
admixture of opaque white lead arsenate. It entailed this collection, lot 20. Many test pieces with blown-on
blowing carefully through a silk gauze-covered bamboo ruby-red enamel from the Kangxi period are at present
tube on the biscuit before its second firing at a lower on view at the Palace Museum, Taipei, in the exhibition
temperature (approx. 800 °C), resulting in a mottled Story of an Artistic Style. The Imperial Porcelain with
effect as seen on the present cups. Painted Enamels.
A few cups of this form, colour, and size, yet bearing the
reign marks of Kangxi, are recorded; examples from the

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