.jpg?w=1)
.jpg?w=1)
.jpg?w=1)
Lot Essay
This elegant and refined pair of tea bowls represents the extraordinary technical ability and speed of development in Chinese porcelain manufacture and decoration in the eighteenth century. This ruby-coloured enamel was originally developed in Europe, and can be seen on wares produced at Meissen and Sèvres, but Chinese craftsmen were able to make significant improvements: through the use of ground ruby glass, as well as reducing the proportion of colloidal gold and the amount of tin in the mixture, they created a more stable and even product which surpassed the European versions of this enamel.
Ruby-enamelled wares from the Yongzheng period were typically small vessels with exceptional fine potting to emphasise the quality of the enamel, and, as on the present pair of tea bowls, to highlight the skilled anhua decoration, which involved moulding and probably a very fine layer of slip, unlike the more commonly known type of anhua technique created by simpler method of incising.
The present type of ruby-enamelled tea bowls is mentioned in an entry from the Qing Imperial archives dated to the 4th year of the Yongzheng reign (1726): 'On the 13th of the 11th month , attendant Haiwang presented two anhua-decorated porcelain tea bowls with red exteriors and white interiors made in the Imperial kilns at Jingdezhen. The glaze and colour on these tea bowls were of good quality, but they were unmarked and the glaze somewhat rough. Have these tea bowls sent back to Jingdezhen, and convey a message to Nian Xiyao: If it is possible to add marks to these two tea bowls, please do so; if not, leave them alone. It is preferred that the two tea bowls have a paler red colour with marks on white-glazed bases. This also applies to dishes. Pay attention to the fineness of the porcelain body and the glaze. I heard that the quality of the overglaze is better if the glazed porcelain has been fired for at least three years.' This very detailed decree from the Emperor Yongzheng not only shows his personal involvement in the production of this type of wares, but also his painstaking pursuit of perfection, as exemplified by the exquisite quality of this pair of bowls.
Most other examples of this type of tea bowls decorated with anhua dragons are preserved in the National Palace Museum, Taipei, with twenty of them in its collection according to the museum website, collection numbers: zhongci-005498 to zhongci-005517 (fig. 1, zhongci-005498). Other examples include one in the Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, illustrated in Valenstein, A Handbook of Chinese Ceramics, 1989, no. 255; one sold at Sotheby’s Hong Kong, 27 April 1993, lot 69; one from the Jingguantang Collection, sold at Christie’s Hong Kong, 3 November 1996, lot 561; one from the Meiyintang Collection, sold at Sotheby’s Hong Kong, 7 April 2011, lot 31; two from the Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, sold at Christie’s New York, 15 September 2016, lots 925 and 928 (fig. 2); one sold at Christie’s New York, 22 March 2019, lot 1829; and one from the James and Marilynn Alsdorf Collection, sold at Christie’s New York, 24 September 2020, lot 815.
Ruby-enamelled wares from the Yongzheng period were typically small vessels with exceptional fine potting to emphasise the quality of the enamel, and, as on the present pair of tea bowls, to highlight the skilled anhua decoration, which involved moulding and probably a very fine layer of slip, unlike the more commonly known type of anhua technique created by simpler method of incising.
The present type of ruby-enamelled tea bowls is mentioned in an entry from the Qing Imperial archives dated to the 4th year of the Yongzheng reign (1726): 'On the 13th of the 11th month , attendant Haiwang presented two anhua-decorated porcelain tea bowls with red exteriors and white interiors made in the Imperial kilns at Jingdezhen. The glaze and colour on these tea bowls were of good quality, but they were unmarked and the glaze somewhat rough. Have these tea bowls sent back to Jingdezhen, and convey a message to Nian Xiyao: If it is possible to add marks to these two tea bowls, please do so; if not, leave them alone. It is preferred that the two tea bowls have a paler red colour with marks on white-glazed bases. This also applies to dishes. Pay attention to the fineness of the porcelain body and the glaze. I heard that the quality of the overglaze is better if the glazed porcelain has been fired for at least three years.' This very detailed decree from the Emperor Yongzheng not only shows his personal involvement in the production of this type of wares, but also his painstaking pursuit of perfection, as exemplified by the exquisite quality of this pair of bowls.
Most other examples of this type of tea bowls decorated with anhua dragons are preserved in the National Palace Museum, Taipei, with twenty of them in its collection according to the museum website, collection numbers: zhongci-005498 to zhongci-005517 (fig. 1, zhongci-005498). Other examples include one in the Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, illustrated in Valenstein, A Handbook of Chinese Ceramics, 1989, no. 255; one sold at Sotheby’s Hong Kong, 27 April 1993, lot 69; one from the Jingguantang Collection, sold at Christie’s Hong Kong, 3 November 1996, lot 561; one from the Meiyintang Collection, sold at Sotheby’s Hong Kong, 7 April 2011, lot 31; two from the Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, sold at Christie’s New York, 15 September 2016, lots 925 and 928 (fig. 2); one sold at Christie’s New York, 22 March 2019, lot 1829; and one from the James and Marilynn Alsdorf Collection, sold at Christie’s New York, 24 September 2020, lot 815.