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Lot Essay
This pair of bowls is masterfully potted with smooth rounded sides, gracefully rising from a tapered foot to a slightly flared rim, superbly painted in characteristic soft tone of cobalt-blue in outlines infilled with wash. Each exterior is painted with a gently undulating meander of flowers with the blossoms in full bloom with tender flaring petals, all between double line bands at the rim and foot. The interior is painted with a central medallion enclosing a single flower head within a double circle, beneath a double-line band at the rim. Both bowls are covered overall in a thick unctuous glaze fired to a waxy finish. Each base is inscribed with the six-character mark within double circles in underglaze blue.
This pair of bowls exemplifies the deft ability of Yongzheng potters to adapt and modify Ming design in a distinctly contemporary manner. The inspiration can be found in Chenghua mark and period pieces companion pieces in Asia; there are four bowls preserved in the National Palace Museum, Taipei, recorded in the museum's porcelain catalogue Gugong ciqi lu, part II: Ming, vol.1, Taipei, 1962, p.214, three of which have been published with illustrations, two in the Catalogue of the Special Exhibition of Ch'eng-hua Porcelain Ware, 1465 – 1487, Taipei, 2003, cat.nos.33 and 34; the third in the exhibition catalogue Ming Chenghua ciqi tezhan [Special exhibition of Ming Chenghua porcelain], Taipei, 1976, no. 80.
Two similar Chenghua bowls are also in the British Museum, London, one, from the collection of Sir Percival David, was included in the exhibition Flawless Porcelains: Imperial Ceramics from the Reign of the Chenghua Emperor, Percival David Foundation, London, 1995, catalogue, no.1; the other from the collection of Mrs. Winnifred Roberts, given in memory of A.D. Brankston, is published in Jessica Harrison-Hall, Catalogue of Late Yuan and Ming Ceramics in the British Museum, London, 2001, no. 6:4.
Chenghua porcelain remained greatly treasured throughout the Ming and Qing dynasties. The rulers most interested in collecting ancient ceramics, the Wanli and Yongzheng Emperors both had copies commissioned from the Imperial kilns at Jingdezhen, the former with his own reign marks, the latter usually with a spurious Chenghua mark. It is extremely rare to find a palace bowl of Yongzheng mark and period, an example from the collection of Mrs. Alfred Clark, now in the British Museum, museum number: 1973,0124.2 (fig.1), is illustrated in Sir Harry Garner, Oriental Blue and White, London, 1973, pl.36. Compare a Kangxi mark and period bowl of this design, which is equally rare, from the collection of Brian McElney and now in the Museum of East Asian Art, Bath, illustrated in Inaugural Exhibition. Chinese Ceramics, Bath, 1993, catalogue, no. 193.
This pair of bowls exemplifies the deft ability of Yongzheng potters to adapt and modify Ming design in a distinctly contemporary manner. The inspiration can be found in Chenghua mark and period pieces companion pieces in Asia; there are four bowls preserved in the National Palace Museum, Taipei, recorded in the museum's porcelain catalogue Gugong ciqi lu, part II: Ming, vol.1, Taipei, 1962, p.214, three of which have been published with illustrations, two in the Catalogue of the Special Exhibition of Ch'eng-hua Porcelain Ware, 1465 – 1487, Taipei, 2003, cat.nos.33 and 34; the third in the exhibition catalogue Ming Chenghua ciqi tezhan [Special exhibition of Ming Chenghua porcelain], Taipei, 1976, no. 80.
Two similar Chenghua bowls are also in the British Museum, London, one, from the collection of Sir Percival David, was included in the exhibition Flawless Porcelains: Imperial Ceramics from the Reign of the Chenghua Emperor, Percival David Foundation, London, 1995, catalogue, no.1; the other from the collection of Mrs. Winnifred Roberts, given in memory of A.D. Brankston, is published in Jessica Harrison-Hall, Catalogue of Late Yuan and Ming Ceramics in the British Museum, London, 2001, no. 6:4.
Chenghua porcelain remained greatly treasured throughout the Ming and Qing dynasties. The rulers most interested in collecting ancient ceramics, the Wanli and Yongzheng Emperors both had copies commissioned from the Imperial kilns at Jingdezhen, the former with his own reign marks, the latter usually with a spurious Chenghua mark. It is extremely rare to find a palace bowl of Yongzheng mark and period, an example from the collection of Mrs. Alfred Clark, now in the British Museum, museum number: 1973,0124.2 (fig.1), is illustrated in Sir Harry Garner, Oriental Blue and White, London, 1973, pl.36. Compare a Kangxi mark and period bowl of this design, which is equally rare, from the collection of Brian McElney and now in the Museum of East Asian Art, Bath, illustrated in Inaugural Exhibition. Chinese Ceramics, Bath, 1993, catalogue, no. 193.