Page 240 - Important Chinese Art Hong Kong Sotheby's April 2017

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PROPERTY OF A GENTLEMAN 清乾隆 釉裏紅梅瓶
《大清乾隆年製》款
A FINE COPPER-RED GLAZED MEIPING
SEAL MARK AND PERIOD OF QIANLONG

the waisted lower body rising up to high shoulders and a short
waisted neck below an everted rim, covered overall with an
even copper-red glaze of burnt umber tone, the glaze neatly
controlled under the mouth-rim and above the white recessed
base, the base inscribed with a six-character seal mark in
underglaze blue
29 cm, 11⅜ in.

HK$ 700,000-900,000

US$ 90,500-116,000

The use of copper-red glaze at Jingdezhen was revived by the
Kangxi Emperor after the decline in usage during the late 15th,
16th and early 17th centuries. With the effort to reproduce
classic Ming sacrificial-red (jihong) porcelains, Qing copper-red
pieces quickly outnumbered their Ming counterparts. Nigel
Wood in Chinese Glazes, London, 1999, p. 180, notes how the
French Jesuit missionary, Pere Francois D’Entrecolles (1664-
1741) wrote letters giving detailed accounts of the copper-red
production at Jingdezhen, the sourcing of the copper for the
glaze, the recipes and the kiln location of the firing of these
wares. D’Entrecolles was aware of the difficulties involved in
the making of copper-red wares and his account confirms the
high level of technical knowledge of the potters at Jingdezhen.
Although copper-red pieces can be readily found from the
Kangxi and Yongzheng periods, by Qianlong’s reign they
became fewer in number.

Qianlong meiping in copper-red glaze are rare, although a small
number is recorded, ranging approximately between 23 and
32 cm in height. Compare a meiping in the Roemer Museum,
Hildesheim, also with a Qianlong reign mark and of the period,
illustrated in Ulrich Wiesner, Chinesisches Porzellan, Mainz
am Rhein, Hildesheim, 1981, pl. 99; a smaller example from
the Jingguantang Collection (24 cm), sold at Christie’s Hong
Kong, 5th November 1997, lot 864; a slightly larger one from
the collection of Professor Ross Edman (30.1 cm), sold in our
New York rooms, 19th/20th March 2013, lot 205; and another
larger example (31.1 cm), sold in these rooms, 8th April 2014,
lot 3086.

Mark

238 SOTHEBY’S 蘇富比