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Lot Essay
INNOVATION AND EXPERIMENTATION: QIANLONG FALANGCAI ENAMELS
ROSEMARY SCOTT
INTERNATIONAL ACADEMIC DIRECTOR, ASIAN ART DEPARTMENT
Qianlong bowls of this kind are extremely rare, and those with this rich mid-blue ground are especially so.
This blue enamel appears as a sgraffiato ground on a small number of falangcai vases preserved in the Palace Museum, Beijing (see Porcelains with Cloisonne Enamel Decoration and Famille Rose, The Complete Collection of Treasures of the Palace Museum, vol. 39, Hong Kong, 1999, pp. 36-8, nos. 29-31, see fig. 1), but is exceptionally rare on bowls. The production of a good blue enamel had proved difficult for the craftsmen in the imperial ateliers. In the reign of the Kangxi emperor a new denser, whiter, glaze was developed, which showed off the overglaze enamels to their brilliant best. It was a low-lime glaze with an increased alkaline content - mainly due to the addition of extra potassia, possibly in the form of willow ash. In a letter of September 1712 the Jesuit Pere d'Entrecolles noted its use and the fact that this dense glaze stood up well to high firing temperatures. He also, however, noted a particular limitation. He wrote:
'This is a densely white glaze and should not be used on porcelain which is to be painted in blue, because after firing the colour will not show through the glaze.' (translated by R. Tichane in Ching-te-chen, New York, 1983, p. 120)
In other words underglaze-blue could not be used and a cobalt blue overglaze enamel was required. However, making such an enamel proved a challenge. A low temperature (i.e. lead-fluxed) cobalt glaze had been used in China, most notably in the Tang dynasty both within the sancai (three colour) palette and as a monochrome glaze. Cobalt had also appeared as a high temperature monochrome glaze in the Ming and Qing dynasties. The problem for the Kangxi potters was that, unlike the Tang potters, who used imported cobalt, they had to use native Chinese cobalt ores, and these have a significant manganese content. Manganese affects the colour of a lead-fluxed cobalt glaze or enamel producing a dull purplish-grey tinge. This discolouring effect could be reduced by increasing the alkaline content of the base glaze that provided the matrix for the cobalt blue, but that in turn altered its melting point. This posed a problem when the overglaze blue enamel was to be used with other colours, as it was imperative that all the colours melted at the same temperature during firing. The obvious solution for the Kangxi enamel-makers would simply have been to remove the manganese from the Chinese cobalt ores. However, due to their mineral structures, separation was very difficult, and so only careful adjustment of the components of the base enamel solved the problem.
It seems likely that the potters turned for help to their colleagues making glass and cloisonné enamels. Examinations have shown the enamels on copper and those on porcelain of this period, including the blue, to be of very similar composition (see J. Henderson, N. Wood and M. Tregear, 'The relationships between glass, enamel and glaze technologies: two case studies', Proceedings of the American Ceramic Society: Ceramics and Civilization, 4, Pittsburgh, 1990, pp. 315-46). In the Kangxi reign the blue enamel had reduced lead oxide content in comparison with the other enamels, and increased potassia. This provided a better colour, but did not completely solve the problem. Thus in the Yongzheng reign, the lead oxide content appears to have been reduced even further, the potassia context was increased again and the sodium content was slightly increased (see N. Wood, Chinese Glazes, London, 1999, pp. 241-2, tables 104 and 105). This gave a blue enamel of the desired clarity, with the desired melting point, and allowed the ceramic decorators of the Yongzheng and Qianlong reigns to produce designs, such as that on the current bowl, which incorporated really fine blue enamels.
The current rare blue-ground Qianlong bowl is identical to, and possibly the pair to, a bowl in the collection of the Museé national des arts asiatiques-Guimet in Paris (illustrated by Xavier Besse in La Chine des porcelaines, Paris, 2004, p. 127, no. 49, see figs. 2a and 2b). Not only the exterior decoration, but also the mark on the Guimet bowl and the current vessel are identical, even to the extent that the outer square surrounding the mark is slightly darker than the rest of the mark in both cases. The interior of both bowls are decorated with a branch of blossoming peony and scattered orchid blooms. When the Guimet bowl was included in the catalogue From Beijing to Versailles - Artistic Relations between China and France, Hong Kong, 1997, pp. 344-5, no. 139, the blossoming branch was described as a rose, but this was corrected in the more recent publication La Chine des porcelaines, op. cit., where it is described as a pivoine, or peony. The inclusion of a delicate decoration of flowers, seeds or fruit on the interior of enamelled vessels became popular on imperial porcelains in the Yongzheng reign and carried on into the early Qianlong period. Cymbidium orchids, like those seen on the current bowl and its Guimet counterpart, were particularly favoured (see op. cit., Hong Kong, 1999, pp. 85-7, nos. 74-6), possibly because of their associations with friendship and grandsons. The peonies that accompany the orchids in these bowls 'represent riches and honours'.
The current bowl was formerly in the collection of Chutaro Nakano (1862-1939) who was from an important land owing family in the present-day Niigita prefecture from the middle of the Edo period onwards. He was the son of Kan-ichi Nakano, known as the 'Oil King of Japan' since he introduced new technology from the United States that revolutionised the Japanese oil industry. Chutaro Nakano was known as a collector of fine Japanese arts and his collection is still on display at the Nakano Residence Museum of Art Foundation, in Nigitta. His art collection includes 12 works that are deemed National Treasures and an additional 30 works that are deemed important Cultural Assets. The Nakano Residence Museum of Art Foundation was first built by Kan-ichi Nakano and his eldest son, Chutaro Nakano. Construction of the building first started in 1900 and was completed in 1904.
The Guimet bowl, along with many other Chinese ceramic items, was bequeathed to the museum by Ernest Grandidier (1833-1912). Grandidier, who had been born into a wealthy French family, started collecting East Asian ceramics in about 1875 and became acquainted with Stanislas Julien (1799-1873). The latter had translated the Jingdezhen Taolu into French in 1856, and was one of the leading experts in Chinese culture at the time. By 1894 Grandidier was able to research and publish a catalogue of his own collection of Chinese ceramics, and in that year he donated his collection to the nation. He eventually became the curator of the collection and persuaded other collectors amongst his friends to donate Chinese art to the museum.
ROSEMARY SCOTT
INTERNATIONAL ACADEMIC DIRECTOR, ASIAN ART DEPARTMENT
Qianlong bowls of this kind are extremely rare, and those with this rich mid-blue ground are especially so.
This blue enamel appears as a sgraffiato ground on a small number of falangcai vases preserved in the Palace Museum, Beijing (see Porcelains with Cloisonne Enamel Decoration and Famille Rose, The Complete Collection of Treasures of the Palace Museum, vol. 39, Hong Kong, 1999, pp. 36-8, nos. 29-31, see fig. 1), but is exceptionally rare on bowls. The production of a good blue enamel had proved difficult for the craftsmen in the imperial ateliers. In the reign of the Kangxi emperor a new denser, whiter, glaze was developed, which showed off the overglaze enamels to their brilliant best. It was a low-lime glaze with an increased alkaline content - mainly due to the addition of extra potassia, possibly in the form of willow ash. In a letter of September 1712 the Jesuit Pere d'Entrecolles noted its use and the fact that this dense glaze stood up well to high firing temperatures. He also, however, noted a particular limitation. He wrote:
'This is a densely white glaze and should not be used on porcelain which is to be painted in blue, because after firing the colour will not show through the glaze.' (translated by R. Tichane in Ching-te-chen, New York, 1983, p. 120)
In other words underglaze-blue could not be used and a cobalt blue overglaze enamel was required. However, making such an enamel proved a challenge. A low temperature (i.e. lead-fluxed) cobalt glaze had been used in China, most notably in the Tang dynasty both within the sancai (three colour) palette and as a monochrome glaze. Cobalt had also appeared as a high temperature monochrome glaze in the Ming and Qing dynasties. The problem for the Kangxi potters was that, unlike the Tang potters, who used imported cobalt, they had to use native Chinese cobalt ores, and these have a significant manganese content. Manganese affects the colour of a lead-fluxed cobalt glaze or enamel producing a dull purplish-grey tinge. This discolouring effect could be reduced by increasing the alkaline content of the base glaze that provided the matrix for the cobalt blue, but that in turn altered its melting point. This posed a problem when the overglaze blue enamel was to be used with other colours, as it was imperative that all the colours melted at the same temperature during firing. The obvious solution for the Kangxi enamel-makers would simply have been to remove the manganese from the Chinese cobalt ores. However, due to their mineral structures, separation was very difficult, and so only careful adjustment of the components of the base enamel solved the problem.
It seems likely that the potters turned for help to their colleagues making glass and cloisonné enamels. Examinations have shown the enamels on copper and those on porcelain of this period, including the blue, to be of very similar composition (see J. Henderson, N. Wood and M. Tregear, 'The relationships between glass, enamel and glaze technologies: two case studies', Proceedings of the American Ceramic Society: Ceramics and Civilization, 4, Pittsburgh, 1990, pp. 315-46). In the Kangxi reign the blue enamel had reduced lead oxide content in comparison with the other enamels, and increased potassia. This provided a better colour, but did not completely solve the problem. Thus in the Yongzheng reign, the lead oxide content appears to have been reduced even further, the potassia context was increased again and the sodium content was slightly increased (see N. Wood, Chinese Glazes, London, 1999, pp. 241-2, tables 104 and 105). This gave a blue enamel of the desired clarity, with the desired melting point, and allowed the ceramic decorators of the Yongzheng and Qianlong reigns to produce designs, such as that on the current bowl, which incorporated really fine blue enamels.
The current rare blue-ground Qianlong bowl is identical to, and possibly the pair to, a bowl in the collection of the Museé national des arts asiatiques-Guimet in Paris (illustrated by Xavier Besse in La Chine des porcelaines, Paris, 2004, p. 127, no. 49, see figs. 2a and 2b). Not only the exterior decoration, but also the mark on the Guimet bowl and the current vessel are identical, even to the extent that the outer square surrounding the mark is slightly darker than the rest of the mark in both cases. The interior of both bowls are decorated with a branch of blossoming peony and scattered orchid blooms. When the Guimet bowl was included in the catalogue From Beijing to Versailles - Artistic Relations between China and France, Hong Kong, 1997, pp. 344-5, no. 139, the blossoming branch was described as a rose, but this was corrected in the more recent publication La Chine des porcelaines, op. cit., where it is described as a pivoine, or peony. The inclusion of a delicate decoration of flowers, seeds or fruit on the interior of enamelled vessels became popular on imperial porcelains in the Yongzheng reign and carried on into the early Qianlong period. Cymbidium orchids, like those seen on the current bowl and its Guimet counterpart, were particularly favoured (see op. cit., Hong Kong, 1999, pp. 85-7, nos. 74-6), possibly because of their associations with friendship and grandsons. The peonies that accompany the orchids in these bowls 'represent riches and honours'.
The current bowl was formerly in the collection of Chutaro Nakano (1862-1939) who was from an important land owing family in the present-day Niigita prefecture from the middle of the Edo period onwards. He was the son of Kan-ichi Nakano, known as the 'Oil King of Japan' since he introduced new technology from the United States that revolutionised the Japanese oil industry. Chutaro Nakano was known as a collector of fine Japanese arts and his collection is still on display at the Nakano Residence Museum of Art Foundation, in Nigitta. His art collection includes 12 works that are deemed National Treasures and an additional 30 works that are deemed important Cultural Assets. The Nakano Residence Museum of Art Foundation was first built by Kan-ichi Nakano and his eldest son, Chutaro Nakano. Construction of the building first started in 1900 and was completed in 1904.
The Guimet bowl, along with many other Chinese ceramic items, was bequeathed to the museum by Ernest Grandidier (1833-1912). Grandidier, who had been born into a wealthy French family, started collecting East Asian ceramics in about 1875 and became acquainted with Stanislas Julien (1799-1873). The latter had translated the Jingdezhen Taolu into French in 1856, and was one of the leading experts in Chinese culture at the time. By 1894 Grandidier was able to research and publish a catalogue of his own collection of Chinese ceramics, and in that year he donated his collection to the nation. He eventually became the curator of the collection and persuaded other collectors amongst his friends to donate Chinese art to the museum.