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Lot Essay
This beautiful brush washer with crackled blue-grey glaze was made for the Yongzheng emperor in deliberate imitation of imperial Ru wares, produced in the early 12th century for the Northern Song Emperor Huizong (r. AD 1100-1126). Song Ru wares have captured the imagination of collectors ever since they were first made, but surviving examples from the Northern Song period are very rare. Amongst the rarest of the forms are oval brush washers with moulded decoration on the interior under the glaze, and it is these that provided the inspiration for the current washer. Two Northern Song Ru washers of this form are in the collection of Sir Percival David (one of these is illustrated by Rosemary Scott in Percival David Foundation of Chinese Art - A Guide to the Collection, London, 1989, p. 47, no. 30), and a third is in the collection of the National Palace Museum, Taipei (illustrated by Ye Zhimin and Ye Peilan in Ruyao juzhen, Beijing, 2001, p. 108, no. 52).
Song dynasty Ru wares were amongst the antique ceramics especially prized by the great imperial collectors of the Qing dynasty: Kangxi, Yongzheng and Qianlong. That this particular Ru vessel shape was both known and appreciated in the 18th century is demonstrated by the inclusion of a Ru ware washer of this sort in two illustrated 18th century manuscript catalogues preserved in the National Palace Museum. These 18th century catalogues of ceramics have hand-painted pictures of the vessels, accompanied by hand-written descriptions and imperial seals. The catalogues, the Yanzhi liuguang and the Fangong zhangse (illustrated in Grand View: Special Exhibition of Ju Ware from the Northern Sung Dynasty, National Palace Museum, Taipei, 2006, pp. 170-1, no. 38, and pp. 172-3, no. 39, respectively), both include a 'Song dynasty boat-shaped Ru ware brush washer', but only the description in the Fangong zhangse mentions the interior decoration, which it describes as an anhua ruyi. This is understandable since the interior moulded decoration is hard to see on both the vessel preserved in the palace collection and one of the Percival David pieces. In fact, it is only clear on the second David vessel, with less opaque glaze, that the motifs on the interior are in fact two goldfish.
The Yongzheng emperor appears to have had particular admiration of these Ru wares and a number of vessels from his reign were made with fine Ru-style glazes. It is possible that the copy of Song dynasty Ru ware glazes made for the Yongzheng emperor was devised by the greatest of all the supervisors of the Imperial Kilns, Tang Ying, who first came to the kilns as resident assistant in 1728. Tang Ying was especially known for his highly successful imitation of early wares. Indeed the Jingdezhen tao lu notes that: 'His close copies of famous wares of the past were without exception worthy partners (of the originals); and his copies of every kind of well-known glaze were without exception cleverly matched ...' (translated by R. Kerr in Chinese Ceramics - porcelain of the Qing Dynasty 1644-1911, London, 1986, p. 20). Several Yongzheng Ru-type ceramics are still preserved in the Palace Museum, Beijing (see The Complete Collection of Treasures of the Palace Museum - 37- Monochrome Porcelain, Hong Kong, 1999, pp. 226-7, nos. 204 & 205; pp. 234-6, nos. 212-4). Several more are preserved from the Qing imperial collection in the Nanjing Museum (illustrated in The Official Kiln Porcelain of the Chinese Qing Dynasty, Shanghai, 2003, pp. 184-9. All but one of these palace pieces bear a six-character seal mark in underglaze blue, similar to that on the current Yongzheng washer. Like the current brush washer, all have glazes that very successfully imitate the original Song dynasty wares. However, no other Yongzheng Ru-type washer appears to have been published, and it seems probable that the current vessel is the only example of this form to have survived.
Song dynasty Ru wares were amongst the antique ceramics especially prized by the great imperial collectors of the Qing dynasty: Kangxi, Yongzheng and Qianlong. That this particular Ru vessel shape was both known and appreciated in the 18th century is demonstrated by the inclusion of a Ru ware washer of this sort in two illustrated 18th century manuscript catalogues preserved in the National Palace Museum. These 18th century catalogues of ceramics have hand-painted pictures of the vessels, accompanied by hand-written descriptions and imperial seals. The catalogues, the Yanzhi liuguang and the Fangong zhangse (illustrated in Grand View: Special Exhibition of Ju Ware from the Northern Sung Dynasty, National Palace Museum, Taipei, 2006, pp. 170-1, no. 38, and pp. 172-3, no. 39, respectively), both include a 'Song dynasty boat-shaped Ru ware brush washer', but only the description in the Fangong zhangse mentions the interior decoration, which it describes as an anhua ruyi. This is understandable since the interior moulded decoration is hard to see on both the vessel preserved in the palace collection and one of the Percival David pieces. In fact, it is only clear on the second David vessel, with less opaque glaze, that the motifs on the interior are in fact two goldfish.
The Yongzheng emperor appears to have had particular admiration of these Ru wares and a number of vessels from his reign were made with fine Ru-style glazes. It is possible that the copy of Song dynasty Ru ware glazes made for the Yongzheng emperor was devised by the greatest of all the supervisors of the Imperial Kilns, Tang Ying, who first came to the kilns as resident assistant in 1728. Tang Ying was especially known for his highly successful imitation of early wares. Indeed the Jingdezhen tao lu notes that: 'His close copies of famous wares of the past were without exception worthy partners (of the originals); and his copies of every kind of well-known glaze were without exception cleverly matched ...' (translated by R. Kerr in Chinese Ceramics - porcelain of the Qing Dynasty 1644-1911, London, 1986, p. 20). Several Yongzheng Ru-type ceramics are still preserved in the Palace Museum, Beijing (see The Complete Collection of Treasures of the Palace Museum - 37- Monochrome Porcelain, Hong Kong, 1999, pp. 226-7, nos. 204 & 205; pp. 234-6, nos. 212-4). Several more are preserved from the Qing imperial collection in the Nanjing Museum (illustrated in The Official Kiln Porcelain of the Chinese Qing Dynasty, Shanghai, 2003, pp. 184-9. All but one of these palace pieces bear a six-character seal mark in underglaze blue, similar to that on the current Yongzheng washer. Like the current brush washer, all have glazes that very successfully imitate the original Song dynasty wares. However, no other Yongzheng Ru-type washer appears to have been published, and it seems probable that the current vessel is the only example of this form to have survived.