YONGZHENG SIX-CHARACTER SEAL MARK IN UNDERGLAZE BLUE AND OF THE PERIOD (1723-1735)

A rare imperial Yongzheng vase formerly in the Carl Kempe collection
By Rosemary Scott
Independent scholar
Visiting ceramics research fellow, Palace Museum, Beijing

This vase was previously owned by one of the great collectors from the golden age of Chinese art collection in Europe – Carl Kempe (1884-1967), whose particular passion was for fine Tang and Song dynasty monochrome wares and the later ceramics inspired by them. It is into this latter category that the current Yongzheng mallet vase falls. Born in Stockholm, where he also completed his schooling, Kempe went on to study at Uppsala University. In 1906, after graduating from Uppsala University, Carl Kempe joined the family firm, Mo och Domsjö AB, and in 1917 took over the post of Managing Director from his father. His commitment to substantial investment in research and development brought the company to the forefront of the modern pulp and paper manufacturing industry in Sweden. Kempe was also an active philanthropist and a keen sportsman - in 1912 winning an Olympic silver medal in the indoor tennis doubles at the Stockholm Summer Olympics with his partner Gunnar Setterwall.

In 1953, Carl Kempe noted: ‘... some thirty years ago, I found myself strongly attracted by Chinese art.’ ... ‘Somehow or other I found myself steeped in humble respect and admiration before this art so pure and yet stimulating for the imagination in its variety of aspects and forms.’ (see the preface to Chinese Gold & Silver in the Carl Kempe Collection: A Catalogue by Bo Gyllensvärd, Stockholm, 1953). Thus, it appears that Carl Kempe’s interest in Chinese art began in the early 1920s, and, although initially he was attracted to Qing dynasty polychrome porcelains, from the 1930s onwards Kempe developed a particular interest in Chinese white-glazed ceramics – especially those from the Tang-Song period – and celadon wares, including crackle-glazed vessels.

In 1930-31 he was one of the private members of the Karlbeck Syndicate, established by the Swedish civil engineer Orvar Karlbeck (1879-1967) to purchase Chinese art objects on behalf of a consortium of museums and private collectors in Europe – primarily Sweden and Britain. Participants in the 1930-31 syndicate, included not only Carl Kempe but also the Museum of Far Eastern Antiquities, Stockholm; the Röhsska Konstslöjdmuseet (Röhsska Museum of Design and Applied Arts), Göteborg; and the Hallwyl Collection, Stockholm. In 1935-6 Carl Kempe and his wife travelled to China, where, it is believed, he purchased some 250 items of Chinese art, which, thereafter, formed the backbone of his collection.

In Sweden the Chinese art collectors were led by HRH Crown Prince Gustaf Adolf (1882-1973, from 1950 HM King Gustaf VI Adolf), who was also a major patron and donor to museums such as the Museum of Far Eastern Antiquities, Stockholm. The Crown Prince was also on the Committee of Honour for the International Exhibition of Chinese Art held at the Royal Academy in London in 1935-36. It was possibly at the Crown Prince’s suggestion that Carl Kempe loaned twelve items to the International Exhibition of Chinese Art. These were primarily glazed ceramics, but included one example of Song dynasty silver gilt.

The famous Swedish scholar Professor Bo Gyllensvärd (1916-2004) acted as curator of Kempe’s collection and was the author of the two major catalogues devoted to it - Chinese Gold & Silver in the Carl Kempe Collection: A Catalogue by Bo Gyllensvärd, Stockholm, 1953 and Chinese Ceramics in the Carl Kempe Collection, Stockholm, 1964. Bo Gyllensvärd was also the curator of King Gustaf VI Adolf’s personal collection of Chinese art between 1955 and 1973. In 1912 Kempe bought a former royal palace at Ekolsund, in Enköping Municipality about forty miles north of Stockholm, creating a library on the ground floor, where he was able to display his collection of Chinese art. Here Kempe welcomed scholars and collectors from all over the world, to view and discuss his remarkable pieces. After his death in 1967 the collection continued to be displayed at Ekolsund for another 30 years, until 1997, when the Kempe collection of ceramics, gold and silver were transferred to the Museum of Art and Far Eastern Antiquities in Ulricehamn. Some ten years later the collection was sold at auction. Nevertheless, the well-documented pieces which comprised it continue to reflect the knowledge and fine aesthetic judgement of the man who assembled the collection.

Carl Kempe appears to have had a particular interest in Qing crackle-glazed celadons inspired by Guan and Ge wares of the Song dynasty. In Professor Bo Gyllensvärd’s 1964 Chinese Ceramics in the Carl Kempe Collection thirty-six vessels with celadon crackled glaze are attributed to the Qing dynasty, however only fourteen of these are attributed to the Yongzheng reign, and of those only three, including the current vase, are recorded as bearing Yongzheng underglaze blue seal marks – suggesting imperial production. The current vase is one of a small number of mallet-shaped vases with similar Song-style crackled glaze and of similar size, bearing Yongzheng six-character seal marks in underglaze blue, which have survived in international collections. The mallet form can be seen in surviving examples of a number of highly-valued ceramics from the Song dynasty. These include the famous Ru wares, as exemplified by the Northern Song Ru ware vase preserved in the collection of the National Palace Museum, Taipei (illustrated in Through the Prism of the Past: Antiquarian Trends in Chinese Art of the 16th to 18th Century, Taipei, 2003, p. 106, no. II-16 B). A Northern Song white Ding ware vase of this shape from the collection of Sir Percival David is illustrated in Song Ceramics – Objects of Admiration, London, 2003, pp. 20-1, no. 1. While a Guan ware vase also based on the shape of a beater, but with shorter neck and slightly lipped mouth rim is illustrated by the National Palace Museum in Catalogue of the Special Exhibition of Sung Dynasty Kuan Ware, Taipei, 1989, p. 66, no. 24, where it is dated to the Southern Song dynasty.

Ceramics with glazes copying revered Song dynasty wares were made at the imperial kilns as early as the 15th century but in the reigns of the three great Qing emperors – Kangxi, Yongzheng and Qianlong, imperial interest in antiquarianism reached new heights and the potters at Jingdezhen were increasingly required to reproduce on porcelain bodies Song-style glazes, which had originally been developed on stonewares. The Yongzheng Emperor in particular is recorded as requiring good copies of Song glazes to be applied to ceramics made for his court. Fortunately, this facet of imperial porcelain production was an area in which the famous ceramicist and director of the imperial kiln Tang Ying (1682–1756) excelled. In his Taocheng jishi bei ji (Commemorative Stele on Ceramic Production) composed in the last year of the Yongzheng reign (1735) Tang Ying listed some fifty-seven products of the imperial kilns, including almost forty different monochrome glazes. It is especially interesting to note that Tang Ying states in Taocheng jishi bei ji that both Guan-type glazes and Ge-type glazes were copied from ancient wares sent to Jingdezhen from the Imperial palace (see Peter Lam in Shimmering Colours – Monochromes of the Yuan to Qing Periods, The Zhuyuetang Collection, Hong Kong, 2005, p. 44). Clearly, the Yongzheng Emperor was willing to risk sending rare antiques hundreds of miles in order to ensure successful copying of Song glazes such as that seen on the current vase.