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Lot Essay
Chinese Porcelain from the Collection of Professor and Mrs. Yu Chunming
Yu Chunming (b. 1955) graduated from China Academy of Art, Zhejiang Province, in 1982 and served as a professor in the department of architecture at the Nanchang University in Jiangxi province from 1982 to 1996. Originally trained as an oil painter, Professor Yu has held more than two dozen personal exhibitions in galleries and museums and his paintings of traditional Chinese architecture have been collected by institutions around the world. Later in his academic career, Professor Yu became a visiting scholar in the East Asian Studies Department at University of California, Los Angeles in 1997, and specialized in the history and culture of regional folk houses in China.
It was after he immigrated to the US that Professor Yu developed a zealous enthusiasm for collecting and studying Chinese export porcelain, acquiring some of the finest examples offered by notable dealers and auction houses in the US and Europe. In 2012, Professor Yu donated over 200 pieces of Chinese porcelain to the Nanchang University Museum, which became the foundation of the museum’s collection. He has since authored five books dedicated to the research of Chinese export porcelain and European armorial porcelains. These publications have been an indispensable academic contribution to the field and promote the interest in and studies of this category of Chinese ceramics. Together with his wife Zhuang Wenjin, Professor Yu amassed an encyclopedic collection of top-quality porcelain. The couple fervently sought examples decorated with unusual and rare scenes and motifs, which they considered an important resource for showcasing ancient Chinese legends and symbols. The Chinese stories depicted on porcelains became a subtle conduit to the cultural exchange between China and the West.
The following section of porcelains represents a refined group of famille rose wares from this collection. This type of finely potted and exquisitely enameled wares was made during the short reigns of Yongzheng (1723-1735) and appear to have found favor with both the export and domestic markets. Examples can be found today in both Western and Chinese institutions, including The Metropolitan Museum of Art and the National Palace Museum in Taipei. Illustrious collectors in the West such as August the Strong, King of Poland and Elector of Saxony (1670-1733) acquired them in the 18th century, and later in the early 20th century these delicate wares experienced a renaissance with western collectors, particularly in America, including noteworthy Gilded Age figures such as J. P. Morgan (1837-1913) and John D. Rockefeller, Jr. (1839-1937).
Yu Chunming (b. 1955) graduated from China Academy of Art, Zhejiang Province, in 1982 and served as a professor in the department of architecture at the Nanchang University in Jiangxi province from 1982 to 1996. Originally trained as an oil painter, Professor Yu has held more than two dozen personal exhibitions in galleries and museums and his paintings of traditional Chinese architecture have been collected by institutions around the world. Later in his academic career, Professor Yu became a visiting scholar in the East Asian Studies Department at University of California, Los Angeles in 1997, and specialized in the history and culture of regional folk houses in China.
It was after he immigrated to the US that Professor Yu developed a zealous enthusiasm for collecting and studying Chinese export porcelain, acquiring some of the finest examples offered by notable dealers and auction houses in the US and Europe. In 2012, Professor Yu donated over 200 pieces of Chinese porcelain to the Nanchang University Museum, which became the foundation of the museum’s collection. He has since authored five books dedicated to the research of Chinese export porcelain and European armorial porcelains. These publications have been an indispensable academic contribution to the field and promote the interest in and studies of this category of Chinese ceramics. Together with his wife Zhuang Wenjin, Professor Yu amassed an encyclopedic collection of top-quality porcelain. The couple fervently sought examples decorated with unusual and rare scenes and motifs, which they considered an important resource for showcasing ancient Chinese legends and symbols. The Chinese stories depicted on porcelains became a subtle conduit to the cultural exchange between China and the West.
The following section of porcelains represents a refined group of famille rose wares from this collection. This type of finely potted and exquisitely enameled wares was made during the short reigns of Yongzheng (1723-1735) and appear to have found favor with both the export and domestic markets. Examples can be found today in both Western and Chinese institutions, including The Metropolitan Museum of Art and the National Palace Museum in Taipei. Illustrious collectors in the West such as August the Strong, King of Poland and Elector of Saxony (1670-1733) acquired them in the 18th century, and later in the early 20th century these delicate wares experienced a renaissance with western collectors, particularly in America, including noteworthy Gilded Age figures such as J. P. Morgan (1837-1913) and John D. Rockefeller, Jr. (1839-1937).