Page 54 - Bonhams Fine Chinese Art November 2018

Image courtesy of the Palace Image courtesy of the Seikado Bunko Art Museum,
Museum, Beijing Tokyo

Given the Yongzheng emperor’s attention to detail the craftsmen emphasises orderliness and precision, as evident in the uniformity of
responded to the emperor’s requests with creative ingenuity. This is the clouds and waves. Moreover, the four dragons on the rim placed
evident from the use of space on the dish exhibiting the successful on the axis of the central dragon on the Yongzheng dish have been
transfer of a pattern originally made for much smaller vessels. The shifted 45 degrees anti-clockwise.
different design elements of the dish are composed so as to avoid
any sense of overcrowding or awkward spaces or gaps that would According to the Qinggong neiwufu zaobanchu dang’an zonghui
affect the overall harmony. The side-facing dragon of the Ming era has (General collection of archival records from the Qing imperial household
been replaced with a frontal dragon and the crashing waves no longer department workshop), on the 25th day in the sixth month of the
cover part of the dragon’s body, with the effect of giving a greater third year of the Qianlong period, corresponding to 1738, a Xuanyao
sense of the creature’s dominance and strength. The use of iron-red hong long qing yun haishui dapan (‘large Xuande-kiln dish with red
heightens the contrast between the dynamism of the background dragons amongst blue clouds and waves’) was presented to the
and that of the dragons while bestowing upon the scene a stronger emperor together with other porcelains. For large vessels in this group,
sense of auspiciousness. The addition of a band of crashing waves drawings were ordered to be produced and sent, together with the
encircling the rim of the dish further attests to the skill and design of smaller vessels, to Tang Ying, the well-known supervisor of the Imperial
the craftsmen and kiln supervisors who recognised the need for a Porcelain Manufactory in Jingdezhen; see Zhang Faying, ed., Tang
large dish to have a band to frame and bring together the expansive Ying du tao wendang, Beijing, 2012, pp.148-152. This entry is likely
design, an element not necessary for the smaller Ming dishes. See a to refer to a Xuande-style dish, possibly produced in the Qing dynasty,
similar blue and white plate with red dragon, Yongzheng mark and of rather than a Ming original. Terms such as Xuanyao or Jiayao (‘Jiajing-
the period, from the Qing Court Collection, illustrated in The Complete kiln’) were often used in Qing Court record to classify antique-inspired
Collection of Treasures of the Palace Museum: Blue and White objects. Moreover, there are no known Xuande examples of matching
Porcelain with Underglazed Red, vol.3, Hong Kong, 2000, pl.223. decoration. According to the record, whether the dish mentioned in the
Another example is illustrated by R.Krahl, Chinese Ceramics from the record was a prototype or an imitation, due to its large size, a drawing
Meiyintang Collection, vol.4, London, 2010, no.1723. Another similar of it had to be sent to Jingdezhen instead. The close resemblance
underglaze-blue and iron-red enamel ‘dragon’ dish, Yongzheng mark in size, form and decoration between the Yongzheng and Qianlong
and period, is in the Umezawa Gallery, Japan, illustrated in Mayuyama: dishes strongly suggests that such a drawing was likely to have been
Seventy Years, vol.1, Tokyo, 1976, p.352, no.1055. based on a Yongzheng interpretation of the Ming original.

Dishes of this type continued into the Qianlong emperor’s reign. At Compare with a very similar underglaze-blue and iron-red enamel ‘nine
first glance, they appear to be almost identical to the Yongzheng dragon’ dish, Qianlong seal mark and of the period, which was sold at
period ones, but on closer examination, there are some differences. Sotheby’s 5 October 2016, lot 3305. Another similar dish was sold at
In comparison to the Yongzheng decoration, the Qianlong rendering Christie’s Hong Kong, 28th October 2002, lot 709.

52 | BONHAMS