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Lot Essay
This large and impressive turquoise-ground yangcai dish belongs to a select group of vessels commissioned by the Qianlong emperor that imitate cloisonné enamel. This group is most commonly decorated with lotus blooms, flower heads and leafy scrolls with vessels produced in a variety of forms including vases, censers, ewers, bowls and, more unusually, dishes.
Experimentation by imitating other materials in porcelain was encouraged by the Emperor Qianlong who had a penchant for the curious and the archaic. Under the supervision of Tang Ying (1682-1756), the inventive ceramicists at the official workshops became skilled at copying other materials including wood, cinnabar lacquer, bronze, puddingstone and turquoise.
Although cloisonné enamel had fallen out of imperial favour in the Yongzheng period, it had a grand renaissance during the Qianlong reign when works of art in this medium reached a new technical highpoint. On the present dish, the colour palette and decorative scheme are both clearly inspired by cloisonné with the intricate floral designs outlined in painted gilt imitating the raised gilt lines, or cloisons, applied to the surface of the body of the metal vessel which were then filled in with coloured glass paste and fired.
The form of the present lot echoes the large cloisonne basins and dishes from the 16th and 17th centuries which had flattened rims, rounded sides and recessed bases such as the ‘dragon and phoenix’ basin decorated to the underside with lotus scrolls and illustrated in Cloisonne, Chinese Enamels from the Yuan, Ming and Qing Dynasties, Singapore, 2011, p251, no.54.
The development of a full enamel palette was one of the major achievements of the Qing imperial ceramic and glass workshops and was used to great effect on porcelain. Imitation cloisonné porcelain with its jewel-like enamels and vivid turquoise ground was highly prized by the Qianlong emperor and related vessels in the Palace Museum collection include a double gourd vase decorated with flower sprays and with a red seal mark; a bottle vase decorated with flower scrolls and with a gilt seal mark; and a double gourd vase decorated with gourds and bats also with a gilt seal mark, all illustrated in The Complete Collection of Treasures of the Palace Museum. Porcelains with Cloisonné Enamel Decoration and Famille-Rose Decoration, Hong Kong, 1999, Vol. 39, pls 115, 116, 119.
Minor decorative design elements on the present dish can also be found on other imperial Qianlong enamelled pieces including the blue and white ruyi-head band encircling the shoulders of a double gourd vase, op. cit., p144, no. 126; and the shaded pale and dark green feathery leaf scrolls on a pair of yangcai candlesticks illustrated in Stunning Decorative Porcelains from the Ch’ien-lung Reign, Taipei, 2013, p 130, no. 40.
Christie’s has sold several related imperial ‘imitation cloisonne’ vessels from the Qianlong period in a variety of forms including a rare Tibetan ewer and cover, duomuhu, with a six-character Qianlong seal mark in gilt sold at Christie’s Hong Kong on 30 May 2005, lot 1244; a tripod censer sold at Christie’s Hong Kong sold on 30 May 2005, lot 1240; a rare oviform vase from the Robert Chang Collection sold at Christie’s Hong Kong on 2 November 1999, lot 505; whilst a ‘bajixiang’ baluster vase with a gilt six-character sealmark sold at Sotheby’s Hong Kong, 7 October 2010, lot 2132.
Experimentation by imitating other materials in porcelain was encouraged by the Emperor Qianlong who had a penchant for the curious and the archaic. Under the supervision of Tang Ying (1682-1756), the inventive ceramicists at the official workshops became skilled at copying other materials including wood, cinnabar lacquer, bronze, puddingstone and turquoise.
Although cloisonné enamel had fallen out of imperial favour in the Yongzheng period, it had a grand renaissance during the Qianlong reign when works of art in this medium reached a new technical highpoint. On the present dish, the colour palette and decorative scheme are both clearly inspired by cloisonné with the intricate floral designs outlined in painted gilt imitating the raised gilt lines, or cloisons, applied to the surface of the body of the metal vessel which were then filled in with coloured glass paste and fired.
The form of the present lot echoes the large cloisonne basins and dishes from the 16th and 17th centuries which had flattened rims, rounded sides and recessed bases such as the ‘dragon and phoenix’ basin decorated to the underside with lotus scrolls and illustrated in Cloisonne, Chinese Enamels from the Yuan, Ming and Qing Dynasties, Singapore, 2011, p251, no.54.
The development of a full enamel palette was one of the major achievements of the Qing imperial ceramic and glass workshops and was used to great effect on porcelain. Imitation cloisonné porcelain with its jewel-like enamels and vivid turquoise ground was highly prized by the Qianlong emperor and related vessels in the Palace Museum collection include a double gourd vase decorated with flower sprays and with a red seal mark; a bottle vase decorated with flower scrolls and with a gilt seal mark; and a double gourd vase decorated with gourds and bats also with a gilt seal mark, all illustrated in The Complete Collection of Treasures of the Palace Museum. Porcelains with Cloisonné Enamel Decoration and Famille-Rose Decoration, Hong Kong, 1999, Vol. 39, pls 115, 116, 119.
Minor decorative design elements on the present dish can also be found on other imperial Qianlong enamelled pieces including the blue and white ruyi-head band encircling the shoulders of a double gourd vase, op. cit., p144, no. 126; and the shaded pale and dark green feathery leaf scrolls on a pair of yangcai candlesticks illustrated in Stunning Decorative Porcelains from the Ch’ien-lung Reign, Taipei, 2013, p 130, no. 40.
Christie’s has sold several related imperial ‘imitation cloisonne’ vessels from the Qianlong period in a variety of forms including a rare Tibetan ewer and cover, duomuhu, with a six-character Qianlong seal mark in gilt sold at Christie’s Hong Kong on 30 May 2005, lot 1244; a tripod censer sold at Christie’s Hong Kong sold on 30 May 2005, lot 1240; a rare oviform vase from the Robert Chang Collection sold at Christie’s Hong Kong on 2 November 1999, lot 505; whilst a ‘bajixiang’ baluster vase with a gilt six-character sealmark sold at Sotheby’s Hong Kong, 7 October 2010, lot 2132.