Marchant II – Qing Imperial Porcelain
Marchant II – Qing Imperial Porcelain
Auction Closed
April 29, 03:20 AM GMT
Estimate
2,000,000 - 3,000,000 HKD
Lot Details
Description
A rare rose-pink enamelled 'chrysanthemum' dish
Mark and period of Yongzheng
清雍正 胭脂紅彩菊瓣盤 《大清雍正年製》款
17.8 cm
Collection of Sir William Cornelius Van Horne (1843-1915), president of the Canadian Pacific Railway, label.
Sotheby's London, 14th November 1967, lot 138.
Collection of Richard Marchant.
加拿大太平洋鐵路主席 William Cornelius Van Horne 爵士(1843-1915年)收藏,標籤
蘇富比倫敦1967年11月14日,編號138
理查德.馬錢特收藏
This chrysanthemum dish, with its superb modelling and vibrant rose-red enamel, is an embodiment of the Yongzheng Emperor's aesthetic for understated refinement and the technical developments in ceramic production in the 18th century. Using ground ruby glass, reducing the proportion of colloidal gold and tin, the Chinese artisans managed to produce this attractive colour superior to the European versions of this enamel in terms of stability and evenness.
Yongzheng rose-pink chrysanthemum dishes are rare. A comparable example is in the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, illustrated in Oriental Ceramics, The World's Great Collections, Tokyo, 1980, vol. 10, no. 264 right; another in the Palace Museum, Beijing, illustrated in China. The Three Emperors 1662-1795, Royal Academy of Arts, London, 2005, cat. no. 172, and a further example sold in these rooms, 15th May 1990, lot 68.
The Yongzheng Emperor is recorded to have commissioned Nian Xiyao, Supervisor of the imperial kilns at Jingdezhen, to produce chrysanthemum dishes in twelve colours, forty pieces of each. The commission is dated the 27th day of the 12th month of the 11th year of the Yongzheng reign, corresponding to 1733. However, no original complete set of twelve dishes is preserved and chrysanthemum dishes of the Yongzheng period are known in many more than twelve colours. The Palace Museum, Beijing, has indeed published dishes covered in thirteen different tones, which have been assembled from different sources, and at least six further colours are recorded elsewhere. Hajni Elias in 'In the path of Tao Qian: "Chrysanthemum" wares of the Yongzheng emperor', Arts of Asia, May-June 2015, pp. 72-85, discusses the development of chrysanthemum-shaped porcelain wares in the Yongzheng period and suggests that they may reveal the Emperor's admiration for one of China's most famous poets, Tao Qian (365-427). A scholar-official who retired to his homeland in Chaisang, present-day Jiujiang in Jiangxi province, he is known for his pastoral lifestyle and for having created the so-called 'farmstead poetry' (tianyuan shi) which was inspired by his chrysanthemum garden as well as the natural landscape and pastoral scenes. These themes were particularly relevant to the Yongzheng Emperor, who was an advocate of farming and manual labour.
A symbol of autumn and of the ninth month of the year, the chrysanthemum flower provided much inspiration to potters and craftsmen from as early as the Song dynasty. These early chrysanthemum-shaped wares, which were made in a variety of materials, probably inspired the form of these dishes. A lacquer chrysanthemum dish, attributed to the Song dynasty, was included in the exhibition The Monochrome Principle. Lacquerware and Ceramics of the Song and Qing Dynasties, Museum für Lackkunst, Münster, 2008, cat. no. 13, together with a moulded Ding chrysanthemum dish, cat. no. 14.
Compare also dishes of this type covered in different glazes, for example, the twelve dishes from the Palace Museum, Beijing, illustrated in The Three Emperors, op.cit., cat. no. 172, which included, in addition to ruby-red, versions in yellow, lemon-yellow, amber-yellow, café-au-lait, white, brown, teal, pale turquoise-blue, lime-green and cobalt-blue; in this group, the teal-coloured example also showed a partly enamelled base; further, a powder-blue glazed example, also in the Meiyintang Collection, illustrated in Regina Krahl, Chinese Ceramics From The Meiyintang Collection, London, 1994-2010, vol. 2, pl. 847; a bright 'camelia-leaf' green dish in the Baur Collection, Geneva, published in John Ayers, Chinese Ceramics in the Baur Collection, vol. 2, Geneva, 1999, pl. 328; a black pair in the Seikado Bunko Art Museum, Tokyo, included in the exhibition Seikadō zō Shinchō tōji. Keitokuchin kanyō no bi [Qing dynasty porcelain collected in the Seikado. Beauty of Jingdezhen imperial kilns], Seikado Bunko Art Museum, Tokyo, 2006, cat. no. 92; and a pair of lavender-blue dishes from the Seattle Art Museum and T.Y. Chao collections, a bright turquoise-blue dish from the Paul and Helen Bernat and Hall Family collections, and a celadon-green piece from the Leshantang Collection, sold in these rooms, 19th May 1987, lot 279, 2nd May 2000, lot 553, and 11th April 2008, lot 2503, respectively.
此盤採菊花之式,罩施胭脂紅彩,形雅色艷,見證雍正帝對御瓷美學的嚴謹,與十八世紀御窰技術的躍進。胭脂紅彩以黃金著色,加入玻璃粉末,減少膠體金和錫量的比例,使胭脂紅彩燒製比歐洲所產更為穩定、均勻。
此色之雍正菊瓣盤甚罕。波士頓美術館藏一例,收入《東洋陶磁大觀》,東京,1980年,卷10,編號264右。北京故宮也有例,見《盛世華章》,英國皇家藝術學院,倫敦,2005年,編號172。香港蘇富比曾售出同色之例,1990年5月15日,編號68。
據清宮記事錄,雍正十一年(1733年)十二月二十七日內務總管年希堯家人鄭天錫送來「各式菊花式磁盤十二色(內每色一件)」,世宗下旨:「着交與燒造磁器處,照此樣式,每色燒造四十件」,即日讓年希堯家人「持去燒造訖」。然而,十二色釉菊瓣盤並無完整成套傳世,且已知雍正菊瓣盤之釉色遠多於十二種。北京故宮博物院已出版共十三色不同來源之菊瓣盤例;此外,已知至少仍有其他六色類例。薛好佩於其文〈In the path of Tao Qian: 'Chrysanthemum' wares of the Yongzheng Emperor〉中,論及雍正時期菊式器之發展,並認為此類器或可體現雍正帝對詩人陶潛之傾慕,承其愛菊之情(《Arts of Asia》,2015年5-6月,頁72-85)。陶潛(365-427年),不為五斗米折腰,棄官歸隱故土柴桑(今江西九江),閒居田壟菊院,寄情山水,逍遙自適,開創「田園詩」體例。世宗尤崇農耕勞作,故此類田園題材作品備得聖心。
宋朝伊始,菊即作為秋與九月之意象,為詩人、工匠創作提供靈感。前朝各種菊式藝作,材質雖異,或為清時藝匠提供靈感,從而製器形相類之盤。宋代菊瓣式漆盤例,可見一例,展於《The Monochrome Principle: Lacquerware and Ceramics of the Song and Qing Dynasties》,慕尼黑,2008年,編號13,此展同載一定窰模印菊花盤,編號14。
可比較他釉色菊瓣盤數例,如北京故宮博物院藏一套十二色菊瓣盤例,除了胭脂紅彩,另有彩釉如黃釉、蛋黃、米黃、醬釉、白釉、湖水綠、葱綠、天藍、灑藍,列展於英國皇家藝術學院。玫茵堂雅蓄也見一灑藍釉例,載於康蕊君,前述出處,卷2,圖版847。日內瓦鮑氏珍藏另一翠綠盤例,載於約翰.艾爾斯,《Chinese Ceramics in the Baur Collection》,1999年,圖版328。東京靜嘉堂文庫美術館貯一對黑釉作例,展於《靜嘉堂藏清朝陶磁景德鎮官窰の美》,東京,2006年,編號92。此外,香港蘇富比曾售出三例,一為天藍釉對盤,曾屬西雅圖藝術博物館及趙從衍舊藏,售於1987年5月19日,編號279;另有一松石綠盤,先後入白納德伉儷及霍爾家族典藏,於2000年5月2日拍出,編號553;樂山堂另藏一粉青釉盤,售於2008年4月11日,編號2503。