Page 131 - Important Chinese Art Hong Kong Sotheby's April 2017
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Idealised landscapes encircling the body of a vase, like a The same vase is also published in Julian Thompson, The Alan
painting on a handscroll that is revealed with every turn, Chuang Collection of Chinese Porcelain, Hong Kong, 2009, pl.
are relatively rare on Qianlong porcelain. Such continuous 101. A smaller lantern-shaped vase similarly painted with a
paintings commanded not only accomplished brushwork landscape and inscribed with a poem, dated to the dingmao
but also particular skill at composition, especially for vases year of Qianlong (in accordance with 1747), but lacking the
of this pear-shaped hu form. A closely related example with seals of Tang Ying, from the collections of Robert C. Bruce
slight variations in mountainscape views, similarly flanked by and H.M. Knight, was included in the Oriental Ceramic Society
archaistic kui dragon handles, and possibly the companion to exhibition The Arts of the Ch’ing Dynasty, The Arts Council
this vase, from the Umezawa Gallery, Tokyo, is published in Gallery, London, 1964, cat. no. 215; and an unmarked larger
Mayuyama. Seventy Years, vol. 1, Tokyo, 1976, pl. 1071, and example, in the British Museum, London, is published in
included in the exhibition Shincho toji [Qing ceramics in the Soame Jenyns, Later Chinese Porcelain. The Ch’ing Dynasty
Umezawa Kinenkan, Tokyo], MOA Art Museum, Atami, 1984, (1644-1912), London, 1951, pl. XCIII, fig. 1.
cat. no. 17.
Idyllic mountainscapes were highly favoured by members
Vases decorated in this style, with mountainous landscapes of the court and scholar elite as they provided an escape
featuring pavilions in richly-coloured vegetation among from the duties and responsibilities of official life. Along with
towering rockwork and expanses of water, are known to porcelain vases, such scenes were produced in a number of
have been applied onto porcelain by Tang Ying (1682-1756), porcelain shapes, such as brushpots and dishes, as well as a
superintendent of the Jingdezhen imperial porcelain factory variety of valuable media, including jade, wood and rhinoceros
and a gifted painted himself. Scenes signed with his seal, either horn. It remained a popular subject throughout the Qianlong
painted directly by him onto the vessel or transferred from Emperor’s reign and beyond, the porcelain examples being
his ink paintings by professional porcelain decorators have later combined with lavish borders decorated in sgraffiato to
survived from the early Qianlong period. The painting is in the further resemble the textile borders of scroll paintings, such as
‘Four Wangs’ orthodox school style which was very popular a pair of vases from J.T. Tai, sold in these rooms, 7th October
in the early 18th century. Moreover, Tang Ying had learned 2010, lot 2130.
painting under Wang Yuanqi (1642-1715), one of the Four
Wangs, in his early years. The particular form of this vase, with iron-red decorated
handles, is more commonly known decorated with the
For an example of a landscape vase of this type from the early ‘hundred deer’ motif; see one in the Shanghai Museum,
Qianlong period, see one of lantern-shape with an inscription illustrated in Zhongguo taoci quanji [Complete series on
by Tang Ying, from the collection of Charles Russell, sold in our Chinese ceramics], Shanghai, 1999, vol. 15, pl. 17 and on the
London rooms, 25th June 1946, lot 79, again in these rooms, dust jacket; one, from the Qing court collection and still in
15th November 1988, lot 52, from the collection of Paul and Beijing, published in The Complete Collection of Treasures
Helen Bernat, and a third time at Christie’s Hong Kong, 29th of the Palace Museum. Porcelains with Cloisonne Enamel
April 2001, lot 516, and published in Peter Y.K. Lam, ‘Tang Decoration and Famille Rose Decoration, Hong Kong, 1999, pl.
Ying (1682-1756). The Imperial Factory Superintendent at 85; and a third offered in this sale, lot 3625.
Jingdezhen’, Transactions of the Oriental Ceramic Society, vol.
63, 1998-99, p. 73, fig. 8, where it is compared to a landscape
painting by Tang Ying, in the Palace Museum, Beijing, fig. 9.
IMPORTANT CHINESE ART 129
