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Lot Essay
This exquisite cup features masterfully painted daylilies and dianthus, exemplifying the finest Yongzheng-period enamels. The pale yellow, trumpet-shaped daylilies are depicted with petals elegantly curling at their tips, creating a subtle impression of movement. The dianthus flowers are painted and delicately shaded in pink enamel, which newly began to be used in the early 18th century. The pink is also applied to the flower on the interior.
Daylilies, like chrysanthemums, boast a rich literary history in China. They are mentioned in the Shi Jing (Book of Odes) and the ancient Shen Nong Bencao Jing (Herbal Classic of Shen Nong). By the 1st century AD, daylilies were known in Western Asia, appearing in the writings of Pliny the Elder (AD 23–79) and the Cilician physician, pharmacologist, and botanist Pedanius Dioscorides (c. AD 40–90) in his De Materia Medica.
Beyond their aesthetic appeal, daylilies hold auspicious associations in Chinese culture, making them a popular motif in decorative arts. In Chinese, the daylily is known as xuancao, with "xuan" being a traditional honorific term for one's mother. The flower symbolizes longevity, allowing it to honor mothers and wish them long life. Additionally, daylilies were used in traditional medicine to treat fevers and liver ailments. In China, they are also called wangyoucao (grief-dispelling plant) or yi'nancao (boy-favoring herb), as they were believed to lift spirits and banish grief. Pregnant women wearing daylilies were thought to be more likely to bear a son.
The daylily motif was popular in the Song dynasty and found on elite Ding wares and dishes, such as on a basin of larger size from the National Palace Museum, Taipei, illustrated in Catalogue of the Special Exhibition of Ting Ware White Porcelain, Taipei, 1987, no. 28. These freely rendered daylilies on Song bowls are reminiscent of the bold and naturalistic daylilies on the present bowl. This design remained popular through the Ming dynasty, where it was found on the elite palace bowls and dishes, such as the Xuande-marked dish illustrated in Imperial Porcelain of the Yongle and Xuande Periods: Excavated from the Site of the Ming Imperial Factory at Jingdezhen, Hong Kong, 1989, pp. 184-85.
The design on the present cup is very rare and no other bowl of this exact pattern appears to have been published. It is very rare to find a bowl decorated with only daylily and dianthus without the addition of other motifs, such as rocks or insects. A pair of Yongzheng-marked cups similarly decorated with daylily and dianthus, but with the addition of rocks, is in the Meiyintang collection, and is illustrated by R. Krahl, Chinese Ceramics from the Meiyintang Collection: Vol. 2, London, 1994. Pp. 276-77, no. 963. A famille rose bowl of broader form with nearly identically painted daylilies and dianthus, but with the addition of butterflies and additional flowers, was sold at Christie’s Hong Kong, 31 May 2010, lot 2811. See, also, the bowl in The Metropolitan Museum of Art decorated with different flowers, but featuring similar fine potting and delicate naturalistic rendering of the flowers, illustrated by S. Valenstein, A Handbook of Chinese Ceramics, New York, 1975, pl. 151. Finely painted porcelains featuring daylilies are also found on other Yongzheng-period ceramics, along with other assorted flowers, rocks, and colophons, as seen with the Yongzheng-marked dish in the Palace Museum, Taipei, no. 017063N000000000.
The present cup was formerly in the collection of Beatrice (d. 2016) and Henry (d. 2001) Goldschmidt of New York, distinguished collectors of imperial Kangxi, Yongzheng, and Qianlong porcelain. The Goldschmidts began collecting in the 1970s while traveling in Asia and purchased much of their collection from renowned dealers such as Marchant, J. J. Lally and Roger Keverne. See R. Davids and D. Jellinek, Provenance: Collectors, Dealers and Scholars in the Field of Chinese Ceramics in Britain and America, Great Britain, 2011, pp. 198-99.
Daylilies, like chrysanthemums, boast a rich literary history in China. They are mentioned in the Shi Jing (Book of Odes) and the ancient Shen Nong Bencao Jing (Herbal Classic of Shen Nong). By the 1st century AD, daylilies were known in Western Asia, appearing in the writings of Pliny the Elder (AD 23–79) and the Cilician physician, pharmacologist, and botanist Pedanius Dioscorides (c. AD 40–90) in his De Materia Medica.
Beyond their aesthetic appeal, daylilies hold auspicious associations in Chinese culture, making them a popular motif in decorative arts. In Chinese, the daylily is known as xuancao, with "xuan" being a traditional honorific term for one's mother. The flower symbolizes longevity, allowing it to honor mothers and wish them long life. Additionally, daylilies were used in traditional medicine to treat fevers and liver ailments. In China, they are also called wangyoucao (grief-dispelling plant) or yi'nancao (boy-favoring herb), as they were believed to lift spirits and banish grief. Pregnant women wearing daylilies were thought to be more likely to bear a son.
The daylily motif was popular in the Song dynasty and found on elite Ding wares and dishes, such as on a basin of larger size from the National Palace Museum, Taipei, illustrated in Catalogue of the Special Exhibition of Ting Ware White Porcelain, Taipei, 1987, no. 28. These freely rendered daylilies on Song bowls are reminiscent of the bold and naturalistic daylilies on the present bowl. This design remained popular through the Ming dynasty, where it was found on the elite palace bowls and dishes, such as the Xuande-marked dish illustrated in Imperial Porcelain of the Yongle and Xuande Periods: Excavated from the Site of the Ming Imperial Factory at Jingdezhen, Hong Kong, 1989, pp. 184-85.
The design on the present cup is very rare and no other bowl of this exact pattern appears to have been published. It is very rare to find a bowl decorated with only daylily and dianthus without the addition of other motifs, such as rocks or insects. A pair of Yongzheng-marked cups similarly decorated with daylily and dianthus, but with the addition of rocks, is in the Meiyintang collection, and is illustrated by R. Krahl, Chinese Ceramics from the Meiyintang Collection: Vol. 2, London, 1994. Pp. 276-77, no. 963. A famille rose bowl of broader form with nearly identically painted daylilies and dianthus, but with the addition of butterflies and additional flowers, was sold at Christie’s Hong Kong, 31 May 2010, lot 2811. See, also, the bowl in The Metropolitan Museum of Art decorated with different flowers, but featuring similar fine potting and delicate naturalistic rendering of the flowers, illustrated by S. Valenstein, A Handbook of Chinese Ceramics, New York, 1975, pl. 151. Finely painted porcelains featuring daylilies are also found on other Yongzheng-period ceramics, along with other assorted flowers, rocks, and colophons, as seen with the Yongzheng-marked dish in the Palace Museum, Taipei, no. 017063N000000000.
The present cup was formerly in the collection of Beatrice (d. 2016) and Henry (d. 2001) Goldschmidt of New York, distinguished collectors of imperial Kangxi, Yongzheng, and Qianlong porcelain. The Goldschmidts began collecting in the 1970s while traveling in Asia and purchased much of their collection from renowned dealers such as Marchant, J. J. Lally and Roger Keverne. See R. Davids and D. Jellinek, Provenance: Collectors, Dealers and Scholars in the Field of Chinese Ceramics in Britain and America, Great Britain, 2011, pp. 198-99.