• Fine Chinese Ceramics and Work auction at Christies

    Sale 12175

    Fine Chinese Ceramics and Works of Art

    New York

    |

    16 September 2016

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    • AN IMPERIAL-INSCRIBED LIME-GRE
    • AN IMPERIAL-INSCRIBED LIME-GRE
    • AN IMPERIAL-INSCRIBED LIME-GRE
    • AN IMPERIAL-INSCRIBED LIME-GRE
    Lot 1375

    AN IMPERIAL-INSCRIBED LIME-GREEN-GROUND FAMILLE ROSE LOBED TRAY

    JIAQING IRON-RED SIX-CHARACTER SEAL MARK AND OF THE PERIOD (1796-1820)

    Price realised

    USD 40,000

    Estimate

    USD 25,000 - USD 35,000

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    AN IMPERIAL-INSCRIBED LIME-GREEN-GROUND FAMILLE ROSE LOBED TRAY
    JIAQING IRON-RED SIX-CHARACTER SEAL MARK AND OF THE PERIOD (1796-1820)
    The tray has shallow rounded sides raised on four bracket supports and is decorated on the exterior and interior with lotus and flower sprays reserved on a lime-green ground that surrounds an iron-red Imperial poem praising well-prepared tea, that is dated to the cyclical year of dingsi, corresponding to 1797. The base is also covered in lime-green enamel surrounding the nianhao.
    6 ¼ in. (16 cm.) long, box

    Provenance

    Private Chinese collection, acquired prior to 1949.

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    Lot Essay

    The poem may be found on a small number of Jiaqing-period teapots and tea trays as it praises well-prepared tea. S. W. Bushell translates the poem in Oriental Ceramic Art, London, 1981 rev. ed., p. 239 as:

    'Finest tea of the first picking
    And a bright full moon prompt a line of verse.
    A lively fire glows in the bamboo stove,
    The water is boiling in the stone griddle,
    Small bubbles rise like ears of fish or crab.
    Of rare Ch'i-ch'iang tea, rolled in tiny balls,
    One cup is enough to lighten the heart,
    And dissipate the early winter chill.'

    An identical tray, of Jiaqing date, is illustrated by A. J. Allen, Allen's Introduction to Later Chinese Porcelain, New Zealand, 1996, p. 193, pl. 109. Others have been sold at Christie's: one in Paris, 13 June 2007, lot 223; two in New York, 21 March 2013, lots 902 and 905; and one in Hong Kong, 27 November 2013. See, also, the similarly decorated teapot in the National Palace Museum, Taipei, illustrated by Liu Liang-yu, A Survey of Chinese Ceramics, vol. 5, Taipei, 1991, p. 216.

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