Page 25 - Fine Imperial Porcelain at Sothebys Hong Kong April 3 2019

fig. 1 fig. 2
Red-ground falangcai ‘peony’ bowl, puce-enamel yuzhi mark and period of Kangxi Yellow-ground falangcai ‘peony’ bowl, puce-enamel yuzhi mark and period of Kangxi
© Collection of the National Palace Museum, Taipei © Collection of the Palace Museum, Beijing

such as the present one, however, derived more directly Selected Articles from Orientations 1983-2003, Hong Kong,
from Chinese flower painting, as court painters worked here 2004. The frilly petals and the slender stems on the incense
side by side with enamellers and were at times recruited to burner create an impression of daintiness, in contrast to the
do some enamelling work themselves. The decoration on vitality and abundance suggested by the lush blooms and
the present bowl, from the opulent blooming peonies with broad leaves on the present bowl. Compare another red-
dense curly petals to the variegated leaves, displays a scene ground bowl with a blue-enamel yuzhi mark formerly in the
of opulence and prosperity well-suited for the period and collections of Robert Chang and Dr Alice Cheng, enamelled
evokes the tradition of Chinese paintings. directly on the biscuit body with multicolour double lotuses
and leaves in blue and green, sold three times in these
Despite a lack of identical examples, there are related rooms, most recently on 8th April 2013, lot 101.
imperial vessels of slightly different proportions or designs
preserved in major museums and private collections. A Further bowls adorned with peonies, albeit against yellow
shallow red-ground bowl with a puce-enamel yuzhi mark backgrounds, are preserved in the Palace Museum, Beijing.
from the Qing Court collection, dominated on the exterior A slightly larger bowl of this form with a puce-enamel yuzhi
by four lavish peony blooms in blue, green, lilac and orange mark, splendidly enamelled with eight blooms in pink,
enamels, is now in the National Palace Museum, Taipei, and green, blue and purple, together with variegated leaves,
included in the exhibition Shen bi danqing. Lang Shining demonstrates a painting style similar to that of the present
lai Hua sanbai nian tezhan/Portrayals from a Brush Divine. bowl (fig. 2). It is published in The Complete Collection
A Special Exhibition on the Tricentennial of Giuseppe of Treasures of the Palace Museum, op.cit., no. 4, where
Castiglione’s Arrival in China, National Palace Museum, the throwing marks of the porcelain body underneath the
Taipei, 2015, cat. no. I-15 (fig. 1). Gold granules are found enamels are visible, a feature also apparent on the present
in the lilac colour of that bowl, which is believed to be bowl. See two other examples with blue-enamel yuzhi marks
formulated with a mixture of cobalt-based blue and gold- from the Qing Court collection, ibid., nos 5-6.
derived red glass powders (see Wang Chu-Ping, ‘Examining There is a related group of falangcai bowls with stylised
the manufacture of the imperial kilns at Jingdezhen in the peony designs. Examples include a shallow puce-enamel
Kangxi-Yongzheng period through iron-red porcelains’, The marked bowl in the National Palace Museum, Taipei, painted
National Palace Museum Monthly of Chinese Art, January with a scroll of three formalised flowerheads outlined in
2013, no. 358, pp. 54-55). The National Palace Museum in black against a red background, stylistically not dissimilar
Taipei also has another red-ground bowl of similar size and to cloisonné enamelled wares, illustrated in Kangxi dadi
shape from the Qing Court collection, but inscribed with a yu taiyangwang luyi shisi tezhan: zhongfa yishu wenhua de
blue-enamel mark and decorated with poppies and asters, jiaohui/Emperor Kangxi and the Sun King Louis XIV. Sino-
illustrated in Shen bi danqing, op.cit., cat. no. I-17. See also a Franco Encounters in Arts and Culture, Taipei, 2011, cat. no.
tripod incense burner in the Au Bakling collection, similarly IV-35.
depicting peonies against a ruby background on biscuit
porcelain, illustrated on the cover of Chinese Ceramics.

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