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拍品专文
Doucai waterpots of this design are very rare. Only four other examples appear to be recorded: a single waterpot from the Nanjing Museum was included in The Art Gallery, The Chinese University of Hong exhibition of Qing Imperial Porcelain, 1995, Catalogue, no. 58; another single pot (an possibly the pair to the Nanjing example) is in the Qing Court Collection, illustrated in Small Refined Articles of the Study, The Complete Collection of Treasures from the Palace Museum, Shanghai, 2009, p. 223, no. 221; and a pair from the Collection of C.T. Loo and Paul and Helen Bernat, sold at Sotheby's Hong Kong, 15 November 1988, lot 9.
The form and decorative motif also occur in a group of Kangxi carved celadon-glazed waterpots such as the example from the Jingguantang Collection sold at Christie's Hong Kong, 3 November 1996, lot 565, and offered again in this present sale of the Greenwald Collection, see lot 2815. The wispy ruyi cloud motif is seen as an abstract form on the Yongzheng waterpots and the effect is successfully achieved by the enamelling over the glaze. However, the earlier Kangxi version provides a different visual effect as the motifs had been carved on the body of the waterpot before a high-fired glaze had been applied. This thereby produces a two-toned effect where the glaze pools to a darker colour in the recesses.
It has been suggested that the motif is a pun on the word 'cloud', yun, which is a homophone as 'fortune'. In addition, in an agrarian society, fortuitous rain-producing clouds particularly for the much needed irrigation of crops were naturally considered as a good omen. As an auspicious symbol, clouds appear as a decorative motif on a variety of textiles and objects.
A related doucai vase with this same cloud design dated to the Yongzheng period was sold at Sotheby's Hong Kong, 8 April 2009, lot 1862. Compare also a pair of Yongzheng-marked stemcups with similar rendering of the clouds but each with the additional circular medallion representing the sun, previously sold at Sotheby's London, 9 July 1974, lot 433. These stemcups were later sold separately, one from the T.Y. Chao, Koger and Jingguantang collections, sold at Christie's Hong Kong, 26 April 1999, lot 536; and the other was sold at Sotheby's Hong Kong, 9 October 2007, lot 1613.
The form and decorative motif also occur in a group of Kangxi carved celadon-glazed waterpots such as the example from the Jingguantang Collection sold at Christie's Hong Kong, 3 November 1996, lot 565, and offered again in this present sale of the Greenwald Collection, see lot 2815. The wispy ruyi cloud motif is seen as an abstract form on the Yongzheng waterpots and the effect is successfully achieved by the enamelling over the glaze. However, the earlier Kangxi version provides a different visual effect as the motifs had been carved on the body of the waterpot before a high-fired glaze had been applied. This thereby produces a two-toned effect where the glaze pools to a darker colour in the recesses.
It has been suggested that the motif is a pun on the word 'cloud', yun, which is a homophone as 'fortune'. In addition, in an agrarian society, fortuitous rain-producing clouds particularly for the much needed irrigation of crops were naturally considered as a good omen. As an auspicious symbol, clouds appear as a decorative motif on a variety of textiles and objects.
A related doucai vase with this same cloud design dated to the Yongzheng period was sold at Sotheby's Hong Kong, 8 April 2009, lot 1862. Compare also a pair of Yongzheng-marked stemcups with similar rendering of the clouds but each with the additional circular medallion representing the sun, previously sold at Sotheby's London, 9 July 1974, lot 433. These stemcups were later sold separately, one from the T.Y. Chao, Koger and Jingguantang collections, sold at Christie's Hong Kong, 26 April 1999, lot 536; and the other was sold at Sotheby's Hong Kong, 9 October 2007, lot 1613.