YONGZHENG SIX-CHARACTER MARK IN UNDERGLAZE BLUE WITHIN A DOUBLE CIRCLE AND OF THE PERIOD (1723-1735)

It is rare to find a ruby-glazed mallow-form cup, which belongs to a small and rare group of porcelains covered on the exterior with an enamel of saturated deep ruby tone. The color—developed at Jingdezhen in the late Kangxi period—marked a significant expansion of the imperial enamel palette. Achieved through ground ruby-colored glass with reduced proportions of colloidal gold and tin, the enamel could be fired to a more stable, even surface than many contemporary European ruby enamels, which were prone to mottling and irregularity in the color tones.

There are several published examples of Yongzheng-marked cups of this size, but in white and with angled, rather than straight lobes on the body. Examples of such cups are published in Shimmering Colors: Monochromes of the Yuan to Qing Periods, Hong Kong, 2005, p. 79, no. 22, and The Wonders of the Potter’s Palette: Qing Ceramics from the Collection of the Hong Kong Museum of Art, 1984, pp. 100-1, no. 58.

A similarly-shaped Yongzheng-marked bowl (7 ½ in. diam.), also covered in ruby enamel, is in the collection of The Metropolitan Museum of Art, Bequest of Benjamin Altman, object number 14.40.108.