AN EXTREMELY RARE RUBY-GROUND 'YANGCAI' CUP AND A CUPSTAND SEAL MARKS AND PERIOD OF QIANLONG

the cup delicately potted with deep sides resting on a straight foot, the exterior finely painted with four large floral blooms borne on stylised meandering scrolls, all reserved on a ruby-red ground further incised with fine sgraffiato feathered scrolls, the base inscribed in underglaze blue with a six-character seal mark, the saucer with shallow rounded sides rising to a wide everted rim picked out with florets and scrolls on a white ground, the interior centred with a countersunk well encircled by a raised ridge enclosing a gilt-decorated shou character roundel against a turquoise ground, the cavetto similarly decorated with floral blooms issuing from scrolling foliate stems, reserved on a ruby-red ground with sgraffiato feathered scrolls, the underside similarly decorated with prunus florets against a ruby-red sgraffiato ground, the base inscribed in underglaze blue with a six-character seal mark, wood stand

Cup: 
Sotheby's Paris, 11th June 2009, lot 155.
Saucer: 
Chait Galleries, New York, 30th December 1969.
Sotheby's Hong Kong, 8th October 2009, lot 1605 (part lot). 

The cup has a tiny grounded flaw to the footrim. Its mouthrim is very slightly polished. The cupstand has an approx. 0.2 cm restored rim flake and another approx. 0.1 cm flake to the rim that is slightly repainted. The enamels of both the cup and cupstand have been well preserved with only some occasional loses and typical wear to the gilding.
"In response to your inquiry, we are pleased to provide you with a general report of the condition of the property described above. Since we are not professional conservators or restorers, we urge you to consult with a restorer or conservator of your choice who will be better able to provide a detailed, professional report. Prospective buyers should inspect each lot to satisfy themselves as to condition and must understand that any statement made by Sotheby's is merely a subjective, qualified opinion. Prospective buyers should also refer to any Important Notices regarding this sale, which are printed in the Sale Catalogue.
NOTWITHSTANDING THIS REPORT OR ANY DISCUSSIONS CONCERNING A LOT, ALL LOTS ARE OFFERED AND SOLD AS IS" IN ACCORDANCE WITH THE CONDITIONS OF BUSINESS PRINTED IN THE SALE CATALOGUE."

Elaborately painted with lotus scrolls on a sgraffiato-decorated ruby-red ground, this cup and cupstand represent the Qianlong Emperor’s taste for the opulent, a taste that was able to be indulged through the great developments of the porcelain manufacturers working at the imperial kilns in Jingdezhen. The richness of the floral design on a coloured ground is reminiscent of French rococo textiles, specimens of which are likely to have entered the court through merchants in Guangdong and Jesuit missionaries.

A closely related cupstand, in the Bushell collection, is illustrated in Cosmo Monkhouse, A History and Description of Chinese Porcelain, London, 1901, fig. 44; and a smaller cup, but inscribed on the base with the mark bao se zhai zhe ('Studio for the Precious and Miserly'), was sold in these rooms, 28th November 1979, lot 236.

Cup and cupstand sets of this type, but with slight variations in form and design on a sgraffiato ruby-ground, are preserved in the National Palace Museum, Taipei; see a petal-lobed example, the saucer raised on small feet, included in the exhibition Stunning Decorative Porcelains from the Chi’en-lung Reign, National Palace Museum, Taipei, 2008, cat. no. 9, together with a quatrefoil example decorated with four circular landscapes, cat. no. 8, and its lemon yellow-ground counterpart, cat. no. 7. For the prototype of these cups and stands, see a Yongzheng mark and period example, decorated with yellow-ground cartouches enclosing peony blossoms all against a ruby ground, illustrated in The Tsui Museum of Art. Chinese Ceramics IV. Qing dynasty, Hong Kong, p. 157, and sold at Christie’s Hong Kong, 29th April 1999, lot 537.

Compare cups of slightly larger proportions and straight sides rising from a countersunk base, painted with a blossoming lotus scroll on an incised ruby ground, such as one sold at Christie’s New York, 2nd December 1993, lot 344, and again in these rooms, 8th April 2007, lot 801; and another, but enamelled with a mixed floral scroll, in the Nanjing Museum, included in the exhibition Qing Imperial Porcelain of the Kangxi, Yongzheng and Qianlong Reigns, Nanjing Museum, Nanjing, 1995, cat. no. 94.

The complicated and laborious sgraffiato technique was first included in the repertoire of the Jingdezhen potters during the Qianlong period and was reserved for decorating particularly fine-quality pieces. Commonly known as jinshang tianhua ('adding decorative pattern onto brocades'), the technique consisted of reserving the design on a monochrome enamel ground, which itself is structured by needle-point etching of endless scrolling fronds. Sgraffiato was more often restricted to smaller subsidiary borders rather than being used for the main field of decoration due to the difficulty of achieving an evenness in the enamel over a large surface.