Page 30 - Thornton Collection Chiense Ceramics HK Nov 2017

A PAIR OF EXQUISITE AND VERY RARE
YONGZHENG ‘POPPY’ BOWLS
Rosemary Scott, Senior International Academic Consultant Asian Art
It is extremely rare to find imperial Yongzheng bowls of this size
decorated with poppies. Even more rare and impressive is the fact
that the decoration begins at the foot, continues up the exterior
sides, and then extends over the rim to the interior of the vessels.
This design concept was known as guozhihua - flowering branch
passing over [the rim]. It was a technique which required great
skill when depicting tree branches, but which required an even
more skilful artist when depicting the slender, slightly angular stems Arts, Boston, Boston, 2001, p. 149.This Boston bowl, which probably
of poppies. This decorative device was also sometimes known as
guoqiangzhi (branch passing over the wall), which suggests the sound
of the phrase changzhi, which in turn implies long peace under good
government. This would provide a compliment to the reigning
emperor and a wish for his longevity. On the current bowls this
challenging composition has been beautifully conceived and
brilliantly executed.
This particular type of decorative scheme, in which a flowering
branch or stem was shown continuing from the exterior of a dish
or bowl into the interior, first seems to have appeared on Chinese
ceramics in the latter years of the Ming dynasty – in the second
quarter of the seventeenth century. A blue and white ko-sometsuke
bowl with grape vines depicted extending over the rim was published
by R. Fujioka and G. Hasebe in Sekai Toji Zenshu, vol. 14,Tokyo, 1976, consummate skill on the part of the ceramic artist if it is to appear
p. 275, pl. 268. This ko-sometsuke bowl was intended for the Japanese
market and the use of the guozhihua design may reflect similar
approaches to decoration seen on Japanese wares of the 17th century.
It was not until the Qing dynasty that this style of decoration seems
to have gained popularity in China, and specifically appears to have
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won imperial favour. One of the earliest Qing dynasty examples
of guozhihua can be seen in the collection of the Boston Museum
of Fine Arts. The Museum has a rare white porcelain bowl, which
was formerly in the collection of Paul and Helen Bernat. The bowl,
which has been dated to the late seventeenth century, bears the name
of the legendary potter, Hao Shijiu 昊十九 and is illustrated by Wu
Tung in Earth Transformed - Chinese Ceramics in the Museum of Fine
dates to the early Kangxi reign, has a subtle white slip design of
prunus blossom running up the outside walls and into the interior
of the vessel. Guozhihua decoration is, however, generally associated
with especially fine famille rose porcelains of the Yongzheng reign,
and is usually seen on ‘peach’ dishes, and occasionally ‘peach’ bowls,
made for imperial birthdays. It is extremely rare to find this style
of decoration with other motifs. Given the difficulty of such
decoration it is not surprising that pieces decorated in this way
are very closely associated with the emperor, or that the guozhihua
essentially disappears after the end of the Yongzheng reign.
Such a decorative device, which involves taking the floral branch(es)
or stem(s) from the junction of the wall of the vessel with the
foot ring, up the exterior of a vessel, and into the interior, requires
natural, as on the current bowls, rather than contrived. Because of
the complexities of the scheme, guozhihua was more often used on
dishes, where the more open surfaces made the task of painting it a
little easier. Bowls, like the current examples, would have rendered
the task more difficult because of the restricted working space, and
thus required an artist of exceptional talent.