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Lot Essay
This exquisite and exceptionally rare dish dates to the Yongle reign (1403-1425), during which the famous tianbai, or 'sweet white' glaze seen on this dish was developed. This glaze was highly admired by the Yongle Emperor and celebrated by connoisseurs ever since for its soft, jade-like, appearance which so perfectly complements the skillful potting and pure white porcelain body that characterize the porcelains of this period. The tianbai glaze was made almost entirely of 'glaze stone' with little or no 'glaze ash' (burned limestone), and it therefore contains less calcium carbonate than the other Jingdezhen 'white' glazes. The reduction of calcium carbonate had the effect of making the fired glaze appear even whiter.
The Yongle Emperor's desire for white porcelain was undoubtedly due in part to his enthusiasm for Tibetan Buddhism but may also be linked to the fact that when he was still a prince, his counsellor, Yao Guangxiao, suggested that he would 'put a white hat on his rank'. This constituted a clever allusion to the Chinese character for emperor, huang, which comprises the character for white, bai, positioned above the character for prince, wang. This was an audacious proposal, given that Prince Yan (the future Yongle Emperor) was not the designated heir. Yongle also demonstrated authentic aesthetic regard for the color white, as evidenced by the exterior walls of the renowned 'Porcelain Pagoda' at Bao'ensi, constructed to honor his deceased parents, which are clad with white-glazed bricks. Such treatment is exceptionally uncommon for a Chinese-style multi-tiered pagoda. The Yongle Emperor additionally commissioned numerous ceremonies employing white vessels in rites commemorating his parents, further reinforcing his affinity for white porcelain.
In addition to its beautiful tianbai glaze, the current dish is subtly enhanced with anhua, or 'secret' decoration. Such decoration is almost invisible from a distance but was intended to be appreciated only by those fortunate enough to examine the piece at close quarters. The dish is skillfully incised with a bold design of meandering grapes in the center and fruit, flower, and lingzhi sprays on the cavetto and everted rim. This design is very rare, and only a few dishes featuring it have been published. These include the pair to this dish, also from the Kempe Collection and sold at Sotheby’s Paris, 12 June 2008, lot 41; a similar dish from the collection of Mrs. Nora Lundgren, now in the Museum of Far Eastern Antiquities, Stockholm, included in the Mostra d’Arte Cinese/Exhibition of Chinese Art, Palazzo Ducale, Venice, 1954, cat. no. 589; another illustrated by Denise Patry Leidy in Treasures of Asian Art: The Asia Society’s Mr. and Mrs. John D. Rockefeller 3rd Collection, New York, 1994, p. 178, pl. 168; and a further example sold at Christie’s London, 13th October 1969, lot 101. A tianbai-glazed dish of similar shape and size, but decorated with lotus scroll rather than grapes, and with some remnants of gilt decoration, was unearthed in Zhushan, Jingdezhen in 1994, and is illustrated by Liang Sui, ed., in Jingdezhen chutu Yuan Ming guanyao ciqi, Beijing, 1999, p. 138, no. 85, and p. 350. Yongle-period dishes with this design were also made in blue and white. See, for example, the Yongle blue-and-white dish similarly decorated with grapevines illustrated by J. Pope, Chinese Porcelains from the Ardebil Shrine, Washington, 1956, pl. 29, and the example illustrated in Mayuyama, Seventy Years, vol. I, Tokyo, 1976, no. 750.
This superb dish was previously owned by one of the great connoisseurs 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 dish 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.
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, such as the present dish. In 1930-31, Kempe 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. In 1935-36, Kempe and his wife travelled to China where he purchased some 250 items of Chinese art, which formed the backbone of his collection.
The Yongle Emperor's desire for white porcelain was undoubtedly due in part to his enthusiasm for Tibetan Buddhism but may also be linked to the fact that when he was still a prince, his counsellor, Yao Guangxiao, suggested that he would 'put a white hat on his rank'. This constituted a clever allusion to the Chinese character for emperor, huang, which comprises the character for white, bai, positioned above the character for prince, wang. This was an audacious proposal, given that Prince Yan (the future Yongle Emperor) was not the designated heir. Yongle also demonstrated authentic aesthetic regard for the color white, as evidenced by the exterior walls of the renowned 'Porcelain Pagoda' at Bao'ensi, constructed to honor his deceased parents, which are clad with white-glazed bricks. Such treatment is exceptionally uncommon for a Chinese-style multi-tiered pagoda. The Yongle Emperor additionally commissioned numerous ceremonies employing white vessels in rites commemorating his parents, further reinforcing his affinity for white porcelain.
In addition to its beautiful tianbai glaze, the current dish is subtly enhanced with anhua, or 'secret' decoration. Such decoration is almost invisible from a distance but was intended to be appreciated only by those fortunate enough to examine the piece at close quarters. The dish is skillfully incised with a bold design of meandering grapes in the center and fruit, flower, and lingzhi sprays on the cavetto and everted rim. This design is very rare, and only a few dishes featuring it have been published. These include the pair to this dish, also from the Kempe Collection and sold at Sotheby’s Paris, 12 June 2008, lot 41; a similar dish from the collection of Mrs. Nora Lundgren, now in the Museum of Far Eastern Antiquities, Stockholm, included in the Mostra d’Arte Cinese/Exhibition of Chinese Art, Palazzo Ducale, Venice, 1954, cat. no. 589; another illustrated by Denise Patry Leidy in Treasures of Asian Art: The Asia Society’s Mr. and Mrs. John D. Rockefeller 3rd Collection, New York, 1994, p. 178, pl. 168; and a further example sold at Christie’s London, 13th October 1969, lot 101. A tianbai-glazed dish of similar shape and size, but decorated with lotus scroll rather than grapes, and with some remnants of gilt decoration, was unearthed in Zhushan, Jingdezhen in 1994, and is illustrated by Liang Sui, ed., in Jingdezhen chutu Yuan Ming guanyao ciqi, Beijing, 1999, p. 138, no. 85, and p. 350. Yongle-period dishes with this design were also made in blue and white. See, for example, the Yongle blue-and-white dish similarly decorated with grapevines illustrated by J. Pope, Chinese Porcelains from the Ardebil Shrine, Washington, 1956, pl. 29, and the example illustrated in Mayuyama, Seventy Years, vol. I, Tokyo, 1976, no. 750.
This superb dish was previously owned by one of the great connoisseurs 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 dish 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.
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, such as the present dish. In 1930-31, Kempe 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. In 1935-36, Kempe and his wife travelled to China where he purchased some 250 items of Chinese art, which formed the backbone of his collection.