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Lot Essay
‘Month’ cups were produced in sets of twelve during the Kangxi reign (1662-1722). Each cup pairs a floral design representative of a month of the lunar calendar with a Tang-dynasty couplet evoking the qualities of the portrayed flower. Sets were made in blue and white as well as with the addition of overglaze enamels, both of which types are represented in the present selection of five ‘month’ cups from the Vaughan Collection (lots 1027-1031). The combination of image and text in a continuous frieze, followed by a seal reading shang (appreciation), evokes the experience of unfurling a hand scroll, where painting and calligraphy are juxtaposed in harmony. Furthermore, the exquisite potting of the cups—from the eggshell thinness to the everted bell-like shape—makes the handling of these cups highly pleasing. All these characteristics have contributed to why ‘month’ cups are one of the most prized and collectible categories within Qing imperial porcelain.
There is some scholarly debate as to which flower corresponds to which month. For example, does the prunus depict the first or the twelfth month? The present cataloguing follows the designation published by Geng Baochang, the eminent curator of Chinese ceramics at the Palace Museum, Beijing, in Ming Qing ciqi jianding (Connoisseurship of Ming and Qing Porcelain), Beijing, 1993, p. 207. The order is as follows: narcissus (first month), winter jasmine (second), peach blossom (third), peony (fourth), pomegranate (fifth), lotus (sixth), orchid (seventh), osmanthus (eighth), chrysanthemum (ninth), hibiscus (tenth), rose (eleventh), and prunus (twelfth). Extant sets of all twelve cups are extremely rare and mostly held in major museum collections including the Palace Museum, Beijing (acc. no. 故00146739) and The Metropolitan Museum of Art (acc. no. 50.145.267–.278), but a complete blue and white set from a private collection was sold at Christie’s Hong Kong, 28 November 2018, lot 2908.
The poem on the reverse of the current cup was written by Li Qiao (AD 644-713) and can be translated as: The branches grow for a seemingly endless age, it is autumn now they are in flower.
There is some scholarly debate as to which flower corresponds to which month. For example, does the prunus depict the first or the twelfth month? The present cataloguing follows the designation published by Geng Baochang, the eminent curator of Chinese ceramics at the Palace Museum, Beijing, in Ming Qing ciqi jianding (Connoisseurship of Ming and Qing Porcelain), Beijing, 1993, p. 207. The order is as follows: narcissus (first month), winter jasmine (second), peach blossom (third), peony (fourth), pomegranate (fifth), lotus (sixth), orchid (seventh), osmanthus (eighth), chrysanthemum (ninth), hibiscus (tenth), rose (eleventh), and prunus (twelfth). Extant sets of all twelve cups are extremely rare and mostly held in major museum collections including the Palace Museum, Beijing (acc. no. 故00146739) and The Metropolitan Museum of Art (acc. no. 50.145.267–.278), but a complete blue and white set from a private collection was sold at Christie’s Hong Kong, 28 November 2018, lot 2908.
The poem on the reverse of the current cup was written by Li Qiao (AD 644-713) and can be translated as: The branches grow for a seemingly endless age, it is autumn now they are in flower.