A VERY RARE CINNABAR LACQUERED YIXING TEAPOT

细节

A VERY RARE CINNABAR LACQUERED YIXING TEAPOT
INCISED QIANLONG SIX-CHARACTER SEAL MARK AND OF THE PERIOD (1736-1795)
Of square cross-section with an angular handle, the exterior decorated with cinnabar lacquer except for the interior and base exposing the Yixing pottery body, carved on the slightly bulged body with stylised scrolls depicting a taotie-mask detailed with a pair of eyes, a nose and a mouth, flanked on by a pair of kui dragons forming the cheeks before the angled sides, all on a leiwen-ground, the slightly domed cover carved with four pairs of kui dragons, each pair divided by a stylised shou medallion, surmounted by a square finial (short hairline to base)
4 1/2 x 4 1/2 x 6 5/8 in. (10.5 x 10.5 x 17 cm.)

拍品专文

There appears to be no published Qing dynasty examples of carved
cinnabar lacquer decorated on a Yixing body material. The only recorded teapot of this type is from the Palace Museum, Beijing, bearing the maker's name, Shi Dabin, illustrated in Zhongguo Meishu Quanji, Lacquer, vol. 8, no. 136. The name, Shi Dabin, is a well-known Yixing potter of the Ming dynasty Wanli period, ibid, p. 50; and two Yixing teapots inscribed with Shi Dabin's name are illustrated in K.S. Lo Collection in the Flagstaff House Museum of Tea Ware, part 2, Hong Kong, 1984, nos. 2 and 3.

Yixing is located in the province of Jiangsu, west of Lake Tai, and tea wares produced from the Yixing kilns became popular with the literati during the late Ming period. This highly unusual choice of delicately carved lacquer over a Yixing body is a good example of Qianlong's taste for the curious.