A FINE AND VERY RARE FAMILLE ROSE 'BOY AND CHICKEN' CUP
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HK$1,500,000 - HK$2,000,000
• ($194,135 - $258,847)

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

A FINE AND VERY RARE FAMILLE ROSE 'BOY AND CHICKEN' CUP
QIANLONG SIX-CHARACTER FANGGU SEALMARK, WITH AN INSCRIPTION DATED TO BINGSHEN YEAR, CORRESPONDING TO 1776, AND OF THE PERIOD

The deep U-shaped body finely painted with the scene of Jia Chang stamping his left foot to call the chickens in a setting of blue rocks and peonies, the boy depicted facing the rooster while the hen and four chicks are shown to the reverse beneath a poetic inscription
3 1/4 in. (8.2 cm.) diam.

清乾隆 粉彩題詩雞缸盃 《大清乾隆仿古》六字篆書款

盃敞口，深腹，臥足。外壁通體繪庭園雞戲圖。庭園中洞石嶙峋，牡丹爭艷，雄雞昂首前行與童子嬉戲，四隻小雞隨母雞覓食。留白處墨彩書「李唐越器人間無，趙宋官窰晨星看。殷周鼎彝世頗多，堅脆之質於焉辨。堅樸脆巧久暫分，立德踐行義可玩。朱明去此弗甚遙，宣成雅具時猶見。寒芒秀采總稱珍，就中雞缸最為冠。牡丹麗日春風和，牝雞逐對雄雞絢。金尾鐵距首昂藏，怒勢如聽賈昌喚。良工物態肖無遺，趨華風氣隨時變。我獨警心在齊詩，不敢耽安興以晏。乾隆丙申，御題」。詩尾落紅彩「三」(乾) 圓印文、「隆」篆書方印文。底書青花「大清乾隆仿古」篆書款。

此盃為乾隆帝賞玩之物，他好古慕雅，有喜歡的便加以仿製。此器雖不似成化造器纖巧輕盈，然造型精巧，胎質瑩潤，釉色艷麗秀雅，繪圖栩栩如生，彌足珍貴。此器製於丙申年，為1776年，乾隆四十一年。

兩岸故宮博物院和北京首都博物館分別藏有同樣的乾隆粉彩題詩雞缸盃 。此盃源自日本私人收藏，2008年11月4日於倫敦佳士得拍賣，拍品222號。

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THE PROPERTY OF AN IMPORTANT AMERICAN PRIVATE COLLECTOR

A Japanese private collection
Christie's London, 4 November 2008, lot 222

Compare with an example in the Palace Museum collection, Beijing, included in the exhibition The Life of Emperor Qianlong, Macao Museum of Art, Macao, 2002, and illustrated in the Catalogue, no. 90. A pair of bowls of the same design in the National Palace Museum, Taipei were included in the exhibition K'ang-hsi, Yung-cheng and Ch'ien-lung Ware from the Ch'ing Dynasty, National Palace Museum, Taipei 1986, illustrated in the Catalogue, no.144.

Cups of this type are based on earlier Chenghua doucai prototypes such as the pair of cups of similar shape, but decorated with chickens only, included in the Illustrated Catalogue of Chinese Government Exhibits for International Exhibition of Chinese Art in London, vol. II, Porcelain, 1948, p. 130, no. 171.

The mark on the base of all of these cups reads Da Qing Qianlong fanggu, which translates as 'made in imitation of antiquity in the Qianlong reign of the Great Qing dynasty'. The imitation of antiquity, or archaism, was a theme close to the Qianlong emperor's heart and a considerable number of imperial art objects in a range of different media bear this mark. The correct rendering of the mark was given by D. Howard and J. Ayers when they included a similar cup in their catalogue of the Mottahedeh collection, Chinese for the West, London/New York, 1978, vol. 1, pp. 171-2, no. 165, in which they date the cup to the Qianlong reign. A cup of this type was also published as dating to the Qianlong period by S. Bushell, who translated the poem in Oriental Ceramic Art, New York, 1899, pp. 49-51.

The poem is in praise of well-known works of art from earlier periods and in particular to Ming dynasty chicken cups. As with most of Qianlong's poems, there are many archaic references. In this instance, the Emperor mentioned the child prodigy, Jia Chang (b. AD713), as depicted by the image of the boy on the present cup. At the age of thirteen, Jia Chang was such a talented trainer of fighting cocks that the Tang dynasty emperor Xuanzong (r. AD 713-56) employed him to train the imperial fighting cocks. The design on these cups is therefore often known as 'the precocious boy'.

• Chinese Ceramics & Works of Art

• 18th Century
• animal
• All other categories of objects
• drinkware
• porcelain
• China
• Qing dynasty (1644-1911)

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