Lot Essay
A similar pair of unpublished stemcups are in the collection of the Art Institute of Chicago (accession numbers 1941.687A and B) from the Henry C. Schwab bequest.
The combination of clouds with the iron-red sun is found only on a small group of stemcups. The imagery of the bright sun forms possibly two rebuses, hong re fang zhong, meaning one's achievement is at its zenith; an alternative reading, hong yun dong tou, playing with the words hong and yun to form the homonym 'auspicious fate is at hand'.
This rare and unusual pattern relates most closely to waterpots of the Yongzheng period enamelled overall with scrolling ruyi-shaped clouds in a doucai palette, such as the pair from the Paul and Helen Bernat collection sold in Hong Kong 15 November, 1988, lot 9; and another pair illustrated in The Tsui Museum of Art, Chinese Ceramics, vol. IV, pl. 131.
(US$320,000-450,000)
The combination of clouds with the iron-red sun is found only on a small group of stemcups. The imagery of the bright sun forms possibly two rebuses, hong re fang zhong, meaning one's achievement is at its zenith; an alternative reading, hong yun dong tou, playing with the words hong and yun to form the homonym 'auspicious fate is at hand'.
This rare and unusual pattern relates most closely to waterpots of the Yongzheng period enamelled overall with scrolling ruyi-shaped clouds in a doucai palette, such as the pair from the Paul and Helen Bernat collection sold in Hong Kong 15 November, 1988, lot 9; and another pair illustrated in The Tsui Museum of Art, Chinese Ceramics, vol. IV, pl. 131.
(US$320,000-450,000)