A rare ruby-enamelled winecup, Mark and period of Kangxi | 清康熙　胭脂紅彩撇口酒盃　《大清康熙年製》款

Sotheby's Hong Kong, 28th/29th April 1992, lot 66 (one of a pair with lot 3621).

To date, no other Kangxi wine cups of this elegant form appear to be published. Compare a more common – though still extremely rare – Kangxi cup variation of broader proportions and straight tapering sides and decorated to the interior with famille-rose fruits and seeds, of which only four extant pairs appear to be known: one from the Ton-Ying Collection, sold at the American Art Association, Anderson Galeries, New York, 24th January 1930, lot 310; a second from the collection of T. Y. Chao, sold in these rooms, 18th November 1986, lot 131; a third pair sold in these rooms, 16th November 1988, lot 366 and again at Christie’s Hong Kong from the Greenwald Collection, 1st December 2010, lot 2813; and a fourth smaller pair from the Paul and Helen Bernat Collection, sold in these rooms, 15th November 1988, lot 49, and again at Christie’s Hong Kong, 29th November 2009, lot 1759. Compare also a pair of this latter design but with plain white interiors from the Paget Collection, preserved in the British Museum, London, illustrated in S. J. Vainker, Chinese Pottery and Porcelain, London, 1991, pl. 158.

Invaluable in confirming the dating of the imperial discovery and the origins of these spellbinding cups, compare also three other ruby-backed pieces without Kangxi marks but inscribed with the cyclical date of the xinchou year (corresponding to 1721): a flared bowl with a plain white interior, included in the Special Exhibition of Ch’eng-hua Porcelain, National Palace Museum, Taipei, 1976, cat. no. 150; a saucer dish with famille-rose flowers to the interior, from the collection of Sir Percival David now preserved in the British Museum, London (accession no. PDF,A.832); and a rounded bowl, also in the British Museum with flowers to the interior, illustrated in Soame Jenyns, Later Chinese Porcelain, London, 1951, pl. LIX.

來源

香港蘇富比1992年4月28/29日，編號66（與拍品編號3621一對之一）

著錄未見與本品相似之例，僅能比較另一類馬蹄形小盃，敞口斜壁，內綴花果，亦是珍稀，現知僅四對包括通運公司舊藏，1930年1月24日售於紐約Anderson Galeries，編號310；趙從衍先生之舊藏一對，售於香港蘇富比，1986年11月18日，拍品編號131；第三對見原為葛沃得（Greenwald）舊藏，最早於香港蘇富比售出，1988年11月16日，拍品編號366，後於2010年12月香港佳士得售出，拍品編號2813。另見原屬博納伉儷（Paul & Helen Bernat）舊藏一對，2007年11月27日在香港佳士得售出，拍品編號1759。內壁無紋者，如大英博物館藏有康熙例一對，編號1945,1016.8-9，錄於 Shelagh J. Vainker，《Chinese Pottery and Porcelain》，倫敦，1991年，圖版158。

並參考另三胭脂紅彩作例，雖未落康熙年款，卻記年辛丑，即1721年，為此技術創新留下記錄：一為撇口盌，內素白，展出於國立故宮博物院的《明成化瓷器特展》， 台北，1976年，編號150；另一為大維德爵士珍藏小盤，內繪粉彩花卉，現藏于倫敦大英博物館，編號PDF,A.832；大英博物館還有一例，胭脂紅釉盌，內繪花卉，刊于Soame Jenyns，《Later Chinese Porcelain》，倫敦，1951年，圖版LIX。