A fine white-glazed 'rice grain' cup, Qing dynasty, Qianlong period, Yuyan shuwu mark | 清乾隆　白釉蓮紋玲瓏小盃　《浴硯書屋》款

Sotheby's Hong Kong, 1st May 2001, lot 591.

Julian Thompson, The Alan Chuang Collection of Chinese Porcelain, Hong Kong, 2009, pl. 60.

This elegant cup belongs to a select group of wares inscribed with the mark yuyan shuwu (Library of Washing Inkstone), which was used during the Yongzheng (r. 1723-1735) and Qianlong (r. 1736-1795) reigns. See a closely related cup, but potted resting on a countersunk base, from the collection of the Anna-Maria and Stephen Kellen Foundation, was sold at Christie’s New York, 14th/15th September 2017, lot 1225. See also a cup of this type, but with a flared rim and with a Qianlong mark and of the period, in the British Museum, London, illustrated in Soame Jenyns, Later Chinese Porcelain, London, 1951, pl. CIV, fig, 1.

Rice-grain porcelain (linglongci) is rare in 18th-century wares. It became more prevalent in later periods, though generally with less intricate patterns and often combined with underglaze blue or enamelled decoration.

來源

香港蘇富比2001年5月1日，編號591

出版

朱湯生，《中國瓷器：莊紹綏收藏》，香港，2009年，圖版60

本品出自一組帶《浴硯書屋》款作例，該款用於雍正及乾隆兩朝。比較一例，器形相近，惟作內凹式圈足，出自 Anna-Maria 及 Stephen Kellen 基金會收藏，售於紐約佳士得2017年9月14/15日，編號1225。另比一例，口沿外撇，乾隆年器並款，現藏於倫敦大英博物館，圖見 Soame Jenyns，《Later Chinese Porcelain》，倫敦，1951年，圖版CIV，圖1。

玲瓏瓷在十八世紀器物中較為少見。至後期則逐漸普及，但紋飾通常較為簡化，且常與青花或彩繪裝飾相結合。