Page 338 - Christie's Fine Chinese Paintings March 19 2019 Auction

1829
A SMALL ANHUA-DECORATED RUBY-PINK-ENAMELED BOWL
YONGZHENG FOUR-CHARACTER MARK IN UNDERGLAZE BLUE
WITHIN A DOUBLE SQUARE AND OF THE PERIOD (1723-1735)
The bowl has rounded sides rising to the slightly everted rim, and the interior
is decorated in anhua technique with dragons leaping amidst fames. The
exterior is covered with a fnely mottled enamel of ruby-pink tone.
3√ in. (9.5 cm.) diam.

$100,000-150,000 (mark)

PROVENANCE
Sotheby’s Hong Kong, 24 November 1987, lot 136.
This elegant and refned bowl represents the extraordinary technical ability For other examples of related ruby-enameled vessels, see a ruby-enameled
and speed of development in Chinese porcelain manufacture and decoration bowl with a fared rim, and a ruby-backed dish, both with Yongzheng marks
in the eighteenth century. This ruby-colored enamel was originally developed and of the period, in the collection of The Metropolitan Museum of New York,
in Europe, and can be seen on wares produced at Meissen and Sèvres, but illustrated by S. Valenstein, A Handbook of Chinese Ceramics, New York,
Chinese craftsmen were able to make signifcant improvements: through the 1975, p. 252, nos. 255 and 256, respectively. Two cups with straight sides
use of ground ruby glass, as well as reducing the proportion of colloidal gold and very slightly fared rims are illustrated in Qing Imperial Monochromes.
and the amount of tin in the mixture, they created a more stable and even The Zande Lou Collection, Hong Kong, 2005, pp. 66-67, no. 16, and a bowl
product which surpassed the European versions of this enamel. from the Zhuyuetang Collection, of form similar to that of the present bowl,
is illustrated in A Millennium of Monochromes from the Great Tang to the High
Yongzheng period examples of ruby-enameled wares are generally Qing. The Baur and the Zhuyuetang Collections, Milan, 2018, pp. 272-73, no.
small vessels, with exceptionally fne potting to emphasize the quality of 120.
the enamel, and, as on the present bowl, to highlight the skilled anhua
decoration. Such bowls with anhua decoration are very rare; however, two 清雍正 胭脂紅釉暗花龍紋敞口盌 雙方框四字楷書款
examples were sold from the collection of the Metropolitan Museum of Art,
New York, at Christie’s New York, 15 September 2016, lots 925 and 928.

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