A rare Yixing 'chrysanthemum' teapot and a wood cover, Qing dynasty, Yongzheng-Qianlong period 清雍正至乾隆 宜興紫砂菊瓣茶壺 連木蓋

In the 7th year of Yongzheng period (corresponding to 1729), the Qing imperial workshop records Gezuo chengzuo huoji qingdang [Records of the edicts of the various handiwork workshops] recorded that,

"On the seventh day of the eighth month, according to a notice from Yuanmingyuan, Director Haiwang presented a yixing chrysanthemum-shaped teapot on the 30th day of the seventh month. Wood models of such should be sent to Nian Xiyao to be copied in porcelain in jun-imitation, sacrificial-red and sacrificial-blue glazes. So it was decreed."

The Yongzheng Emperor's admiration for the yixing chrysanthemum teapot was demonstrated by his commission of imperial porcelain teapots in various glazes based on this model, and similar teapots continued to be made during the Qianlong period.

Compare a similar example from the collection of Yao Shiying, illustrated in Liang Baiquan (ed.), Yixing Purple Clay Ware, Hong Kong, 1991, no. 22; and two other sold at Christie's New York, the first from the Falk Collection, sold on 20th September 2001, lot 160 and the other on 18th September 2003, lot 337. During the Yongzheng period, the chrysanthemum-form was employed for a number of wares including dishes, teapots and bowls. For a jun-imitation porcelain teapot of this form from the J.M. Hu and Shimentang collections, see Collectors, Curators, Connoisseurs: A Century of the Oriental Ceramic Society 1921-2021 exhibition catalogue, London, 2021, cat. no. 97.

雍正七年（1729年）《內務府造辦處各做成活計檔》有載：「八月初七日，據圓明園來帖內稱，閏七月三十日郎中海望持出菊花瓣式宜興壺一件，奉旨做木樣交給年希堯照此款式仿鈞窰，將霽紅、霽青釉色燒造，欽此。」由此可見，菊瓣式紫砂茶壺在雍正時期已備受帝皇珍視，並下令以此作範本燒製官窰御瓷，時至乾隆年間仍有燒造。

姚世英藏一近例，錄於梁白泉編，《宜興紫砂》，香港，1991，編號22；另有兩例曾售於紐約佳士得，其一出自Falk收藏，售於2001年9月20日，編號160，其二售於2003年9月18日，編號337。雍正年間，官窰尚有製作其他菊瓣式瓷器，如盤、茶壺及盌。參見一仿鈞窰菊瓣茶壺，曾展於《百年清賞：東方陶瓷學會的收藏家、鑑賞家及博物館員》，倫敦，2021，編號97。