Page 33 - Sothebys HK Dragon Emperor April 2024
P. 33

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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