Lot 8. The Au Bak Ling Collection. A copper-red-decorated and enamelled water pot, Kangxi six-character mark in underglaze blue and of the period (1662-1722); 8.8 cm high. Price realised HKD 4,410,000 (Estimate HKD 2,000,000-3,000,000). © Christie's Images Ltd 2024.

The water pot is well-proportioned with a globular body rising to a short waisted neck and a flared rim, elegantly decorated in underglazed copper-red and overglazed green, black and iron-red enamels with two blossoming rose branches and two further branches bearing buds rising from the base.

Provenance: Hugh Moss, by repute.

Note: When the Kangxi Emperor came to the throne he immediately began to show an interest in the production of imperial porcelain. Even before he dispatched a commission to report on the state of the imperial kilns and subsequently to rebuild them, the imperial potters were encouraged to experiment, improve and rediscover, even as early as the 1670s, painting on porcelain in underglaze copper-red.

Firing underglaze copper-red is very difficult, requiring the precise control of heat, kiln atmosphere and air circulation in the kiln, as well as the careful preparation of the copper pigment, and had hardly been used since the Xuande period. The present water pot displays the level of skill in the well-executed pencilled lines, shading of the flowers, and bright raspberry tone of copper-red.

A number of water pots of this design are recorded but they are generally of slightly different proportions, of more elongated form, with a shorter neck, and lacking the iron-red enamel. The current Au Bak Ling Collection example compares well to a similar water pot in the Palace Museum Collection, Beijing, illustrated in Kangxi, Yongzheng, Qianlong. Qing Porcelain from the Palace Museum Collection, Hong Kong, 1989, p. 41, no. 24; one in the Shanghai Museum Collection, illustrated in Chugoku toji zenshu, vol. 21, Kyoto, 1981, no. 84; and one in the Asian Art Museum of San Francisco, illustrated by He Li, in Chinese Ceramics, London, 1996, no.579.

Christie's. The Au Bak Ling Collection: The Inaugural Sale, Hong Kong, 26 September 2024