A RARE FAMILLE ROSE GREEN-GROUND TEAPOT AND COVER
PROPERTY FROM THE TINGSONGSHUWU COLLECTION
A RARE FAMILLE ROSE GREEN-GROUND TEAPOT AND COVER

Details
A RARE FAMILLE ROSE GREEN-GROUND TEAPOT AND COVER
JIAQING IRON-RED SIX-CHARACTER SEALMARK AND OF THE PERIOD (1796-1820)

The globular body with a looped handle opposite a curved spout, each side enamelled with a gilt-bordered panel containing a poem inscribed in iron-red, written in praise of good tea by the Jiaqing Emperor dated dingsi year corresponding to 1797, reserved against a lime-green ground decorated with multi-coloured lotus sprays, all between a band of ruyi-heads around the neck and key-fret encircling the foot, the domed cover similarly decorated with a lotus scroll and surmounted by bud-shaped finial, the interior and base turquoise-enamelled
5 1/4 in. (13.3 cm.) wide, stand, box

Lot Essay

The poem may be found on a small number of Jiaqing-period teapots and tea-trays, as it praises well-prepared tea. S. W. Bushell translates the poem in Oriental Ceramic Art, London, 1981 (1896), p. 239, as:
'Finest tribute tea of the first picking
And a bright full moon prompt a line of verse.
A lively fire glows in the bamboo stove,
The water is boiling in the stone griddle,
Small bubbles rise like ears of fish or crab.
Of rare Ch'i-ch'iang tea, rolled in tiny balls,
One cup is enough to lighten the heart,
And dissipate the early winter chill.'

Two similar lime-green-ground teapots inscribed with the same poem are known: one from the National Palace Museum, Taiwan, is illustrated by Liu Liang-yu, A Survey of Chinese Ceramics, vol. 5, Taiwan, 1991, p. 216; and the other was sold at Sotheby's London, 6 December 1994, lot 212. Compare also a coral-ground teapot with the same poem, sold at Sotheby's London, 20 June 2001, lot 39; and a blue and white version sold in these Rooms, 1 May 1995, lot 749. Liu also illustrates a lime-ground quatrefoil tray inscribed with the poem, ibid., p. 256. See the preceding lot for a blue and white tray inscribed with the same poem.

More from Important Chinese Ceramics and Works of Art

View All
View All