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A FINE AND RARE IMPERIAL BEIJING ENAMEL BLUE-GROUND BOWL -

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A FINE AND RARE IMPERIAL BEIJING ENAMEL BLUE-GROUND BOWL
Estimate
(Set Currency)
    HK$800,000 - HK$1,200,000
  • ($103,539 - $155,308)

Sale Information

Sale 2811
The Imperial Sale Important Chinese Ceramics and Works of Art
31 May 2010
Hong Kong Buy Catalog





Lot Description

A FINE AND RARE IMPERIAL BEIJING ENAMEL BLUE-GROUND BOWL
KANGXI BLUE-ENAMEL FOUR-CHARACTER YUZHI MARK WITHIN DOUBLE-SQUARES AND OF THE PERIOD (1662-1722)

The deep rounded sides of the exterior intricately enamelled with a broad continuous scroll bearing four large naturalistically rendered peony blossoms finely shaded in ruby, yellow, violet and lime-green, amidst smaller flowers, buds and curled leaves in two shades of green, all against a soft blue ground, the interior enamelled turquoise
6 1/8 in. (15.4 cm.) diam.


清康熙 北京銅胎畫琺瑯牡丹紋盌 雙方框《康熙御製》楷書款

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Pre-Lot Text

THE PROPERTY OF A PRIVATE AMERICAN COLLECTOR

Provenance

Elizabeth Halsey Dock
Sotheby's New York, 1 June 1993, lot 101
Sotheby's New York, 24 March 1998, lot 459

Literature

David Hunt Stockwell, 'Introducing China-Trade Enamels', Antiques, October 1958, p. 339

Exhibited

Wilmington Society for the Fine Arts, Chinese Export Porcelain and Enamels, 1957, Catalogue no. 285, illustrated in the introduction together with a detail of the mark

Lot Notes

Three identical bowls to the present lot with Kangxi yuzhi marks, are known: one in Beijing, illustrated in Metal-bodied Enamel Ware, The Complete Collection of Treasures of the Palace Museum, Hong Kong, 2002, pl. 177; another from the Rev. Victor Farmer collection, sold at Christie's London, 8 June 2004, lot 467; and the other included in the Min Chiu Society Thirtieth Anniversary Exhibition, Selected Treasures of Chinese Art, Hong Kong Museum of Art, 1991, Catalogue no. 225 and subsequently sold at Christie's Hong Kong, 27 October 2003, lot 725. The latter two examples are both illustrated in Chinese Art News, No. 146, March 2010, p. 75.

As the production techniques of enamelled porcelain during the Kangxi reign generally imitated those of enamelled metalware, the composition and style of enamelling on this bowl is closely related to those found on a number of Kangxi yuzhi-marked porcelain bowls with formal floral scrolls on coloured grounds. Cf. the three shallow bowls of this composition on pink, yellow and ruby-red grounds, all with blue or ruby-enamelled marks, illustrated in Painted Enamels of the Ch'ing Dynasty, National Palace Museum, Taiwan, 1979, nos. 3, 4 and 7, respectively.

There are a small number of exquisite Beijing enamelled Kangxi Yuzhi marked bowls of this size and form. Two bowls in the British Museum are illustrated by Jourdain and Jenyns, Chinese Export Art in the Eighteenth Century, London, 1950, p. 127, pl. 109, one painted with flowerhead medallions on a green ground and another with flowering prunus on a ruby ground. Hugh Moss illustrates the second bowl again in By Imperial Command, Hong Kong, 1976, vol. 1, and a bowl from the Palmer collection painted with prunus on a yellow ground is illustrated ibid., pl. 11. A pale pink ground bowl with a composite floral scroll was sold in Hong Kong, 30 April 1991, lot 148.

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