Pair of Yellow-Ground Famille-Rose Double-Gourd Vase. Est. HK$40 – 60 million / US$5.1 – 7.7 million. Photo: Sotheby's.

HONG KONG.- Sotheby’s Hong Kong is delighted to announce that the Fine Chinese Ceramics and Works of Art Autumn Sale Series 2012 will take place on 9 October 2012 at the Hong Kong Convention and Exhibition Centre. The sale will offer a fine selection of Chinese art from the Ming and Qing dynasties, highlighting imperial porcelains from the collections of Dr. Alice Cheng and J.M. Hu, The Meiyintang Collection (Part IV), as well as Imperial Bannermen Portraits from a European Collection. The four single-owner sales, together with a various-owner sale, offer over 230 lots with an estimated total value of over HK$500 million / US$64 million*. 

Nicolas Chow, Sotheby’s Asia Deputy Chairman and International Head of Chinese Ceramics and Works of Art, said, “This autumn we have the privilege of offering selections from three of the world’s most prestigious porcelain collections, including exceptional Qing porcelains from the collection of Dr. Alice Cheng, the Shanghai-born business woman and philanthropist; exquisite monochromes from the celebrated collection of J. M. Hu, founder of the Minchiu society and benefactor of the Shanghai Museum; as well as around 50 pieces of Yuan, Ming and Qing porcelains from the Meiyintang collection, Europe’s grandest private collection of Chinese porcelain. Other highlights include a superb pair of yellow-ground enamelled double-gourd vases of the Qianlong period and an extraordinary collection of 17 portraits of bannermen commissioned by the Qianlong Emperor.”

QING IMPERIAL MONOCHROMES FROM THE J.M. HU COLLECTION

J.M. Hu (Hu Jenmou, or Hu Huichun, 1911-1995), master of Zande Lou (Studio of Temporary Enjoyment), was one of China’s great connoisseur-collectors. His collection encompasses the finest of imperial ceramics, Chinese paintings and calligraphies and scholarly objects. A patron and benefactor, he was known for his generous donations of ceramics to institutions including the Shanghai Museum, as well as his support of publications, exhibitions and research. The present collection forms part of the grand legacy of a man who was passionate about Chinese porcelain and determined to share it with others. The sale offers 12 lots with an estimated total value of HK$56 million / US$7 million. 

Lot 112. An Exquisite Pair of Turquoise-Glazed Pomegranate Vases, Seal Marks and Period of Qianlong (1736-1795). Height: 21.5 cm. Estimate 20,000,000 — 30,000,000 HKD. Lot sold 23,060,000 HKD. Photo: Sotheby's.

masterfully potted, each with a globular body sweeping up to a short neck flaring at the mouth terminating in an everted rim with six overhanging ruyi lappets, the body finely carved in raised relief with seven luscious lotus flower heads evenly spaced around the body and interconnected to each other by an elaborate foliate scroll with meandering vines, all above a band of upright petal lappets filled with concentric lines skirting the foot, covered overall in a rich and vibrant opaque turquoise glaze blanketing the carved six-character reign mark on the recessed base, stand.

Provenance: Acquired in Shanghai in the 1930s and 1940s. 

Exhibited: Zandelou Qingdai guanyao danseyou ciqi/Qing Imperial Monochromes. The Zandelou Collection, Shanghai Museum, Beijing Museum and Art Museum, The Chinese University of Hong Kong, 2005, cat. no. 47 (only one vase illustrated).

Literature: Helen D. Ling and E.T. Chow, Collection of Chinese Ceramics from the Pavilion of Ephemeral Attainment, vol. IV, Hong Kong, 1950, pl. 193.

Turquoise-Glazed Vases in the 18th Century
Regina Krahl

This pair of turquoise-glazed relief-decorated vases represents a new departure for porcelain design in the early 18th century. It was not uncommon to apply coloured low-fired glazes on a high-fired, unglazed biscuit and many biscuit-glazed turquoise vessels are known. It was unusual, however, to apply pastel-coloured glazes, mixed with white enamel, in this way. In the present case, the opaque quality of the glaze admirably reproduces the matte gloss and smooth texture of natural turquoise gemstone and the relief-design contributes further to the effect of the vases being carved from stone.

A similar pomegranate-shaped vase, of smaller size and with a globular body, decorated in relief with bats and emblems among flower scrolls but under a transparent glaze, is in the National Palace Museum, Taiwan, and was included in the museum’s exhibition Qingdai danse you ciqi tezhan [Special exhibition of monochrome glazed porcelain of the Qing dynasty], Taipei, 1981, cat. no. 64 (fig. 1), together with a brushwasher with relief decoration under a similar turquoise glaze, cat. no. 49; another brushwasher with carved flower scrolls under a similar glaze was included in the exhibition Shimmering Colours. Monochromes of the Yuan to Qing Periods. The Zhuyuetang Collection, Art Museum, The Chinese University of Hong Kong, Hong Kong, 2005, cat. no. 107.

Relief-Decorated White 'Pomegranate' Vase, Seal Mark and Period of Qianlong, National Palace Museum, Taipei.

A meiping decorated in this technique with formal flower scrolls and phoenixes and with the same enamel applied on the biscuit is in the Baur Collection, Geneva, illustrated in John Ayers, Chinese Ceramics in the Baur Collection, vol. 2, Geneva, 1999, pl. 324 (fig. 2); its pair in the National Museum of China, Beijing, is illustrated in Zhongguo taoci quanji [Complete series on Chinese ceramics], Shanghai, 1999-2000, vol. 15, pl. 102, together with a basin of similar colour and relief decoration in the Beijing Art Museum, pl. 101. A lantern vase with relief decoration under a similar turquoise glaze, also of Qianlong mark and period, is in the Palace Museum, Beijing, illustrated in Kangxi, Yongzheng, Qianlong. Qing Porcelain from the Palace Museum Collection, Hong Kong, 1989, p. 455, pl. 137.

Turquoise-Glazed 'Phoenix and Lotus' Vase, Meiping, Seal Mark and Period of Qianlong, The Baur Collection.

The same technique was also used with other pastel-coloured glazes. See, for example, another lantern vase, very similar to the last, but with a pale apple-green glaze, included in the exhibition In Pursuit of Antiquities: Min Chiu Society 40th Anniversary Exhibition, Hong Kong Museum of Art, Hong Kong, 2001, cat. no. 187.

Ever since the Song dynasty (960-1279), connoisseurs have appreciated the beauty of ceramics of harmonious form, desirable colour and pleasing texture, and monochrome wares have held a powerful appeal for China’s collectors. As Qianlong Emperor (r. 1736-95) delighted in the infinite possibilities of ceramic technology, potters at the imperial kilns in Jingdezhen discovered endless innovative ways to create objects that appealed to his baroque taste, such as this pair of turquoise-glazed relief-decorated vases. Pastel-coloured glazes, mixed with white enamel, were applied in an unusual way so that the opaque quality of the glaze admirably reproduces the mat gloss and smooth texture of natural turquoise gemstone and the relief-design contributes further to the effect of the vases being carved from stone. Another important property offered is a pair of Guantype Rectangular Jardinières, also produced during the reign of Qianlong. 

EXCEPTIONAL QING PORCELAIN FROM THE COLLECTION OF DR. ALICE CHENG

Sotheby’s Hong Kong will present a group of five pieces of exceptional Qing porcelain from the Collection of Dr. Alice Cheng, the Shanghai-born business woman and philanthropist. Dr. Cheng grew up surrounded by fine objects. Her parents were celebrated antique dealers, in whose footsteps her brother Robert would later follow and build an illustrious career in the field of Chinese art. Over the last 15 years, Dr. Cheng has put together a formidable collection of imperial Chinese porcelain. The sale offers five lots with an estimated total value of HK$78 million/ US$10 million. 

The floral and fruit sprays seen on the blue and white tianqiuping are “re-designs” of a Ming pattern, although the vase itself appears to be inspired by a Yongzheng example. Like many other blue-and-white wares of the early Ming period, this design was reinvented and transformed during the Yongzheng emperor’s reign before becoming one of the favourites of the Qianlong emperor. Only one similar example, but with a Yongzheng mark, is preserved in the Palace Museum Beijing. 

Lot 121. A Large Blue and White ‘Fruits And Flowers’ Vase, Tianqiuping, Seal Mark And Period Of Qianlong (1736-1795). Height: 52.1 cm. Estimate 18,000,000 — 25,000,000 HKD. Unsold.  Photo: Sotheby's

Early Qing rulers, especially the Yongzheng and Qianlong emperors, were keen to see historical masterpieces with ancient designs and glazes re-interpreted to suit current taste as a reminder of the nation’s glorious past. Adorned with a Yongzheng-period interpretation of an early Ming pattern of nine ferocious iron-red dragons among rolling waves, this dish of magnificent size and formidable decoration was made to impress. Although a few examples of this type are known in museums and collections around the world, the present dish ranks among the finest. 

Lot 125. A Magnificent And Rare Iron-Red And Underglaze-Blue ‘Nine Dragon’ Charger. Mark And Period Of Yongzheng. Diametre: 47.2 cm. Estimate 30,000,000 — 40,000,000 HKD. Lot sold 40,980,000 HKD. Photo: Sotheby's

sturdily potted with curved sides and everted rim, the interior with a central medallion of a bright iron-red, vigorous, five-clawed full-frontal dragon chasing a 'flaming pearl' amidst a turbulent sea of underglaze-blue waves, the cavetto on both the interior and exterior with four rampant red dragons in different lively attitudes, two of them five-clawed and two three-clawed and one of the latter with wings and a fish tail and only one eye visible, all floating among blue clouds, the rim with further waves, the base inscribed with a six-character reign mark within double circles in underglaze blue.

Provenance: Sotheby's London, 6th June 1995, lot 242.
Sotheby's Hong Kong, 23rd October 2005, lot 208.

Note: Dishes of this magnificent size and formidable decoration were made to impress. Such wares were used at Imperial banquets and on special celebratory occasions, such as the ‘Thousand Elderly Banquet’ held in honour of senior citizens when thousands of invited guests were served a great feast. The Manchu custom of banqueting closely followed the Mongolian and Tibetan tradition of shared communal dining.

A Yongzheng dish of this design and large size in the Palace Museum, Beijing, is published in The Complete Collection of Treasures of the Palace Museum. Blue and White Porcelain with Underglazed Red, vol. 3, Hong Kong, 2000, pl. 223; another in the Seikado Bunko Art Museum, Tokyo, was included in the exhibition Seikado zo Shincho toji. Keitokuchin kanyo no bi[Qing porcelain collected in the Seikado. Beauty of the Jingdezhen imperial kilns], Seikado Bunko Art Museum, Tokyo, 2006, cat. no. 53; and another in the Meiyintang collection is published in Regina Krahl, Chinese Ceramics from the Meiyintang Collection, London, 1994-2010, vol. 4, no. 1723. Compare also a Yongzheng dish sold in our London rooms, 6th December 1994, lot 179; and another, with a slightly reduced rim, sold at Christie’s London, 10th April 1978, lot 49.

The decoration found in this dish is a Yongzheng period interpretation of an early-Ming pattern. The Yongzheng emperor was known to have sent antiques from the palace to Jingdezhen in order to establish standards and as model and inspiration for designs. The dragon design is after a Xuande mark and period dish painted with a side-facing five-clawed dragon amongst crashing waves in the centre and the side decorated with three dragons striding among clouds. An example of the Xuande dish, excavated at the waste heap of the Ming Imperial Kilns in Zhushan, was included in the exhibition Xuande Imperial Kiln Excavated at Jingdezhen, Chang Foundation, Taipei, 1998, cat. no. 87 (fig. 1).

Blue and White ‘Dargon Against Waves’ Saucer Dish, Mark and Period of Xuande Period.

The creative ingenuity of the Yongzheng potter in his use of space is evident from the successful transfer of a pattern that was originally made for much smaller vessels. The different design elements on this dish are perfectly composed to give no hint of overcrowding or awkward gap that could hinder the overall harmony. While maintaining the essence of the original design, the artist created a motif that is familiar yet spontaneous. The side-facing dragon has been replaced with a frontal dragon and the crashing waves no longer cover any part of the dragon’s body to give a greater sense of the creature’s dominance and strength. The use of red heightens the contrast between the dynamism of the background and that of the dragons while endowing the scene with further auspicious meaning. Furthermore, the additional crested rolling wave band encircling the rim of the dish reveals the craftsman’s skill through his recognition that a large dish such as the present would need a band to bring the expansive design together; an element that was not necessary for the smaller Ming dishes. 

PORTRAITS OF VALOUR: IMPERIAL BANNERMEN PORTRAITS FROM A EUROPEAN COLLECTION 

Mingliyang, Attributed To Ignaz Sichelbarth (Ai Qimeng, 1708-1780), et al.  Est. HK$3.5 – 4.5 million / US$450,000 – 580,000, 72.5 by 56 cm. 

As part of his efforts towards self-aggrandisement and glorification, the Qianlong Emperor commissioned portraits of 280 meritorious officers for display in the famous Ziguangge (Hall of Purple Splendour) at the Imperial War Memorial in Beijing. These painted portraits of bannermen are most likely the work of Jesuit painters, including Ignaz Sichelbarth (Ai Qimeng) and Giuseppe Panzi. This collection comprises 17 portraits in oil on Korean paper, which document the heroes deemed instrumental in two important historical events in 18th Century China, namely the return of the Russian Torgut tribe and the pacification of the mountainous Sichuan areas known as Jinchuan, and are therefore of tremendous historical significance. Among the bannermen portrayed was Mingliyang, who from 1772 to 1776 fought against the Jinchuan rebels in Sichuan. For his services during this campaign he was awarded the title Count of Xiangyong (Zeal and Bravery) of the first class and commended by the emperor with a poem which was later added to the portrait. Very few portraits of important officials have survived, among which oil portraits are considered excessively rare. 

THE MEIYINTANG COLLECTION, PART IV – AN IMPORTANT SELECTION OF IMPERIAL CHINESE PORCELAINS

Assembled over a period of more than 50 years, The Meiyintang Collection is world renowned for having brought together magnificent examples of imperial porcelain. This fourth sale dedicated to the Collection again makes available a phenomenal range of rare works from the kilns at Jingdezhen, covering imperial porcelains from all major reigns between the Yuan (1279–1368) and Qing dynasties (1644–1911). The sale offers over 50 lots with an estimated total value of HK$100 million / US$13 million. 

Stemcups with such freely executed sketches of vigorous dragons chasing flaming pearls appear to have been used throughout China during the Yuan dynasty, although extant examples are rare. The moulding of the dragons on this cup is extraordinarily crisp and the present example is the finest of its type ever to come to the market. 

Lot 17. A Fine And Rare Blue And White Moulded “Dragon” Stemcup, Yuan Dynasty, Early-Mid 14th Century. Diametre: 11.5 cm. Estimate 8,500,000 — 10,000,000. Lot sold 12,420,000 HKD. Photo Sotheby's

the wide, flared cup resting on a hollow splayed stem with horizontal bamboo-node ridges, emphasized by incised lines, the interior crisply moulded around the well with two four-clawed dragons striding among flames in pursuit of a 'flaming pearl', one with the character yu ('jade') in front of its foremost claw, set around a central medallion boldly painted in dark cobalt blue with a chrysanthemum spray within a moulded double-line border, all under a 'classic' scroll at the rim, the exterior decorated in underglaze blue with a single three-clawed dragon with wide open jaws, a slender undulating body and scales finely detailed by cross-hatching, emitting flames and chasing a pearl, the cup applied overall with a smooth transparent glaze slightly tinged to blue and thinning to white on the moulded designs on the interior.

Provenance: Yamanaka & Co., Ltd (January 1940, £ 38).
Collection of R.H.R. Palmer (1898-1970) (no. 539).
Christie’s Hong Kong, 17th January 1989, lot 561.
Jingguantang Collection, The Tsui Museum of Art, Hong Kong.
Christie’s Hong Kong, 3rd November 1996, lot 542.

Exhibited: Selected Treasures of Chinese Art, Min Chiu Society Thirtieth Anniversary Exhibition, Hong Kong, 1990-91, cat. no. 121.

Lot 10. A Very Rare White-Glazed ‘Monk’s Cap’ Ewer Incised With Tibetan Inscription, Sengmaohu, Ming Dynasty, Yongle Period (1403-1424); 20.2 cm., 8 in. Estimate. HK$ 3.4 – 4.8 million / US$440,000 – 610,000. Unsold. Photo Sotheby's

the compressed globular body supported on a low slightly splayed foot, surmounted by a flaring cylindrical neck and stepped, galleried 'monk's cap' collar with a small loop on the inside to attach a cover, set with a deep channeled and a ruined head tab and terminal, finely incised around the center with a band of lança script between tall petal lappets enclosing lingzhi above the foot, and cloud motifs enclosing lotus sprays around the shoulder, in addition to elaborate lotus scroll, the neck and vertical lingzhi sprays on either side of the spout, the handle and on the exterior of the collar,The inner rim is incised with scrolling lotus, and the cover is in a full-length, with an ancturnal 'sweet-white' (tianbai) glaze.

FINE CHINESE CERAMICS AND WORKS OF ART 

 A Pair Of Yellow Ground Famille-Rose Double-Gourd Vases. Seal Marks And Period Of Qianlong. Est. HK$40 – 60 million / US$5.1 – 7.7 million. Height: 17.1 cm. Photo Sotheby's 

This pair of superbly enameled vases appears to be unique and no other similar vases exist in collections around the world. These vases, with their fine potting as well as splendid and auspicious decoration, would have been a perfect birthday or wedding gift for the emperor or one of his family members. The vases are from the collection of Mrs Christian Holmes (1871-1941).

An Outstanding Mother-Of-Pearl Inlaid Incense Stand. Mark And Period Of Kangxi, Dated To The Guichou Year, 1673. Est. HK$10 – 15 million / US$1.3 – 1.9 million. Height: 69.5 cm