Page 17 - Sotheby's Falancai Poppy Bowl Oct. 3, 2018

fig. 2
Giuseppe Castiglione (1688-
1766), Immortal Blossoms in
an Everlasting Spring, Qing
dynasty, album, ink and
colours on silk, detail
© The Collection of National
Palace Museum, Taipei

substantial, less emphasis being put on the weightlessness of famille rose (‘fencai’) palette that had been developed for
their stems and blooms that makes them dance in the wind. painting on a larger scale; compare the pair of ‘poppy’ bowls
On the present bowl, the flowers are admirably observed from from the collection of Dr James D. Thornton, sold at Christie’s
nature and superbly painted, growing in an unruly manner, their Hong Kong, 29th November 2017, lot 2806.
petals wind-blown and their stalks bent in disorderly ways.
During the Kangxi reign the imperial workshops in the
Falangcai (‘foreign colours’) – porcelains painted in the Forbidden City resembled sophisticated laboratories more
imperial workshops of the Forbidden City in Beijing with than art ateliers, where court artists, artisans and technicians
enamels partly introduced from the West – are among the explored new scientific discoveries, manufacturing
rarest and most dazzling ceramic wares of the Qing dynasty methods and substances. To this end, the Emperor had
(1644-1911). The fine white porcelain, potted and fired in welcomed foreigners to the court, mainly from Europe, to
Jingdezhen in Jiangxi province, south of the Yangzi River and upgrade the country’s standards of scientific and technical
then sent up to Beijing, was painted within the confines of the knowledge to international levels. The Yongzheng Emperor
imperial palace, next the Emperors’ living quarters, before mistrusted these foreigners right on his doorstep, and with
being fired once more to affix the enamels. Never before or few exceptions, expelled them from the court. One of the
after can porcelain painters have been exposed to similar exceptions was granted to the Italian Jesuit painter Giuseppe
pressure as in these tightly circumscribed workshops, where Castiglione (1688-1766), a particularly capable artist who
they were to meet the extreme imperial expectations while had endeavoured to learn Chinese painting techniques and
being subject to immediate scrutiny from the monarch’s eyes. experimented with a hybrid style that combined the ingenious
The whole setup was small in scale, not least for the simple Chinese manner of composition with the meticulous way
reasons of space and inconvenience to ordinary palace life, of detailed representation in which he had been trained in
and here individual artists would create individual works of art, Europe. His depictions of flowers, birds and animals, clearly
incomparable to the mass production even of fine porcelains based on Chinese models, obviously pleased the Emperors,
for the court undertaken at Jingdezhen. Every piece of and although they had little effect on the development of
porcelain produced in these workshops is unique, quality is Chinese painting in general, they decisively influenced court
unsurpassed and numbers, naturally, are very limited. artisans working practically side by side with Castiglione and
other Europeans inside the Forbidden City.
Poppy designs were also produced at Jingdezhen, and
although they are extremely beautiful, they cannot compare Castiglione’s album Immortal Blossoms in an Everlasting
to the present piece. While this bowl uses a palette specially Spring contains flower and bird-and-flower leaves that render
developed for it and its design is laid out in an individual the subjects in the stylish asymmetrical compositions that
manner, Jingdezhen ‘poppy’ bowls are known in several are quintessentially Chinese, yet with that almost excessive
virtually identical versions and are painted in the standard degree of precision that he had learned in Europe. One of