A fine and rare lemon-yellow cup Mark and period of Yongzheng | 清雍正 檸檬黃釉小盃 《雍正年製》款

Sotheby’s Hong Kong, 28th/29th November 1978, lot 135.

An important Hong Kong private collection.

Sotheby’s Hong Kong, 7th April 2015, lot 116.

香港蘇富比1978年11月28/29日，編號135

香港重要私人收藏

香港蘇富比2015年4月7日，編號116

Yongzheng porcelain cups of this small size, inscribed with four-character reign marks which conform to the smaller area of the base, are extremely rare. Monochrome vessels of this type, deceptively simple in form and colour, represent one of the most technically challenging porcelains to be produced. They required absolute precision in potting, glazing and firing, as the smallest imperfection resulted in the destruction of the piece. Amongst all the different monochrome glazes, yellow is the only colour that has direct imperial association. Although imperial yellow-glazed wares had been produced from the early Ming dynasty, they were used exclusively for ritual ceremonies; thus lemon-yellow vessels provided the court with an alternative for daily use. The yellow glaze was derived from an antimoniate oxide and the lemon-yellow enamel was a Yongzheng innovation achieved when the antimoniate of iron was combined with tin oxide resulting in an opaque yellow enamel of brilliant hue.

A Yongzheng cup with the more commonly found six-character reign mark, from the collection of Dr Ip Yee, sold in these rooms, 19th November 1984, lot 218, was included in the Min Chiu Society exhibition An Anthology of Chinese Ceramics, Hong Kong Museum of Art, Hong Kong, 1980, cat. no. 128. Compare also another pair of this type in the Museum of Far Eastern Antiquities, Stockholm, illustrated by Jan Wirgin, Chinese Ceramics from the Axel and Nora Lundgren Bequest, Stockholm, 1978, no. 79.

Compare also the ruby-red cup sold three times in these rooms, 4th May 1994, lot 99, 11th April 2008, lot 2502, from the Leshantang Collection, and again 7th April 2015, lot 117, and offered in this sale, lot 13.

檸檬黃釉器，形簡而色單，燒製極為不易，胎、釉、火必精熟，方見成品，但有微瑕，則前功盡棄。黃釉者，宮廷獨斷，以鐵著色，始於明初，僅作禮器之用。至雍正一朝，以銻入料，創檸檬黃釉，色質盈潤可人、娟雅秀美，閑來把玩，賞心悅目。

參考一相類例，葉義醫生收藏，售於香港蘇富比1984年11月19日，編號218，錄於敏求精舍展覽《中國陶瓷雅集》，香港藝術館，香港，1980年，圖版128。亦見一對，藏斯德哥爾摩東亞博物館，載於 Jan Wirgin，《Chinese Ceramics from the Axel and Nora Lundgren Bequest》，斯德哥爾摩，1978年，編號79。

另見專場中樂山堂舊藏同形胭脂紅釉小盃，拍品編號13，曾三度售於香港蘇富比，分別為1994年5月4日，編號99、2008年4月11日，編號2502及2015年4月7日，編號117。