JINGTAI INCISED SIX-CHARACTER MARK IN A LINE AND OF THE PERIOD (1450-1456)

The Jingtai reign is the most celebrated period for Chinese cloisonné enamel, so much so that the term Jingtai lan (Jingtai blue) is often used to describe cloisonné enamel objects in China. In his book Tianfu guangji, the collector Sun Chengze (1596-1676) recorded that on the 4th, 14th and 24th of every month at the back of a building called the Neishi, located outside the Xuanwu Gate, rare and precious treasures made for the inner court were traded, “such as bronze wares of the Xuande era, porcelain wares of the Chenghua era, lacquer wares made by the Guoyanchang of the Yongle era, and the Jingtai cloisonné made by the Yuqian zuofang [the Imperial Workshop].” Such accounts confirm the high status Jingtai cloisonné enamel wares held at least by the late Ming-early Qing period.

The present dish is exceptional for its sturdy, heavily cast bronze body, the rich, well-preserved gilding, and the strong colors set within fine, accurately bent wires that delineate the contours of the designs. A Jingtai-marked cloisonné enamel dish of this design and of comparable size is illustrated by H. Brinker and A. Lutz, Chinese Cloisonne, The Pierre Uldry Collection, New York, 1989, pl. 10, where another dish of similar design, but of slightly smaller size (26 cm.) and bearing a double vajra mark, is illustrated pl. 14, where it is dated first half 15th century. Another Jingtai-marked example of comparable size was sold at Sotheby’s London, 14 July 1981. Smaller Jingtai-marked dishes of this design include the one sold in Gems of Chinese Art, The Speelman Collection, I, Sotheby’s Hong Kong, 3 April 2018, lot 3406 (19.6 cm.), and the dish sold at Christie’s New York, 3 June 1998, lot 44, and again at Christie’s London, 7 November 2006, lot 93 (19.5 cm.).

A similar lotus medallion formed as a lotus pod encircled by two bands of petal lappets can be seen on the cover of a Jingtai-marked cloisonné enamel bracket-lobed box in the National Palace Museum, Taipei, illustrated in Enamel Ware in the Ming and Ch’ing Dynasties, National Palace Museum, 1999, p. 66, no. 1, as well as on the famous cloisonné enamel Jingtai-marked box and cover, formerly in the collection of T. B. Kitson, sold at Christie’s Hong Kong, 3 December 2021, 2957. (Fig. 1)