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Lot Essay
A Qianlong-marked example with very similar decoration but a foliate metal rim, from the estate of Eugene O. Perkins, which was exhibited at Chinese Painted Enamels, Ashmolean Museum, Oxford, 1978, Catalogue no. 85, was sold at Christie's New York, 30 May 1991, lot 56, and again at Sotheby's Hong Kong, 31 October 2004, lot 150.
There are two other foliate-rim cups showing similar naturalistic depiction of flowers. The pair are in the British Museum, illustrated by Jessica Rawson, Chinese Art, London, 1992, pl. 143. One of the pair is again illustrated by Hugh Moss, By Imperial Command, An introduction to Ch'ing Imperial Painted Enamels, Hong Kong, 1976, pl. 24, where the author states that the technique of painting enamel matured during the Qianlong period to a degree that allowed miniature paintings by the palace enamel technicians to emerge from the kiln flawless, op. cit., Text, p. 49. He also mentions it was not unusual that imperial enamelled pieces made at the Canton workshops of a comparable quality to those produced by the Palace workshops, p. 53.
There are two other foliate-rim cups showing similar naturalistic depiction of flowers. The pair are in the British Museum, illustrated by Jessica Rawson, Chinese Art, London, 1992, pl. 143. One of the pair is again illustrated by Hugh Moss, By Imperial Command, An introduction to Ch'ing Imperial Painted Enamels, Hong Kong, 1976, pl. 24, where the author states that the technique of painting enamel matured during the Qianlong period to a degree that allowed miniature paintings by the palace enamel technicians to emerge from the kiln flawless, op. cit., Text, p. 49. He also mentions it was not unusual that imperial enamelled pieces made at the Canton workshops of a comparable quality to those produced by the Palace workshops, p. 53.