Page 48 - Sothebys HK Dragon Emperor April 2024

In its clean form and exceptionally vibrant crushed Several Yongzheng examples painted in famille-rose
raspberry tone, together with delicate sprays of lychee with scattered berries, melon and lotus seeds are
on the interior, these rare cups exemplify the Yongzheng known. Most of them are modelled with steep sides,
Emperor's aesthetic sensibility and incessant pursuit of closely following the Kangxi prototypes: for example, a
refined beauty. pair is illustrated in Julian Thompson, The Alan Chuang
Collection of Chinese Porcelain, Hong Kong, 2009, pl.
The ruby-pink enamel was first introduced to China from 94; another pair was sold in these rooms, 6th April 2016,
Europe through Jesuit missionaries during the Kangxi lot 3018. Also decorated with berries and seeds, a bowl
period (see Nigel Wood, Chinese Glazes, Hong Kong, with rounded sides enamelled in bright carnation-pink
1999, pp. 241-243). Numerous scientific experiments is published in Regina Krahl, Chinese Ceramics from the
were conducted, and towards the end of the Kangxi Meiyintang Collection, vol. 2, London, 1994, pl. 957.
period, around 1720, artisans developed an improved
recipe of a matte ruby-pink enamel derived from colloidal Two smaller pairs of Yongzheng rose-pink enamelled
gold combined with an admixture of opaque white lead cups, each painted on the interior with three cherries and
arsenate. These technological achievements resulted inscribed with a six-character mark in three columns,
in a variety of shades, from bright pink to purplish were sold in these rooms, 29th November 1977, lot 162,
red, which revolutionised the porcelain colour palette. and 10th December 1985, lot 273, respectively. See also a
This enamel, known as "rose-pink," would later lend slightly larger pair of Yongzheng-marked pink-enamelled
its name to the corresponding European term famille cups with flaring sides and florets on the interior,
rose. An array of small refined vessels characterised by formerly in the collection of J.M. Hu, included in Qing
fine potting and perfectly fired enamels of bright hues Imperial Monochromes: The Zande Lou Collection, Hong
were commissioned since the late Kangxi period and Kong, 2005, pl. 16.
continued into the Yongzheng reign.
For a Yongzheng cup of this proportion and vibrant
Exquisitely painted on the interior with a spray of lychee colour, but without famille-rose decoration, see one
in famille-rose, the present cups are extremely rare included in Zhongguo ming tao Riben xunhui zhan
and no other examples seem to be recorded. Although [Exhibition of famous Chinese ceramics touring Japan],
the combination of famille-rose and puce enamels was Museum of History, Taipei, 1993, p. 177 and sold in these
already employed in the last years of the Kangxi reign rooms, 7th October 2019, lot 3102; and another, sold
and continued into the early Yongzheng period, extant twice in these rooms, first, 31st October 1995, lot 415,
examples are rare and differ in shape and design. and again 29th October 2001, lot 577. Compare also
another pair of Yongzheng pink-enamelled cups with
undecorated interiors in this collection, lot 14.

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