Lot 3712. A brilliantly enamelled famille-rose 'Chrysanthemum' cup, Mark and Period of Yongzheng (1723-1735); 10.1 cm, 4 in. Estimate 2,200,000 — 2,800,000 HKD. Lot sold  5,080,000 HKD. Photo Sotheby’s

finely potted with a slightly rounded conical body rising from a short foot, the exterior delicately enamelled with a branch bearing three large chrysanthemum blooms and one flowering bud, the flowers intricately depicted in a brilliant vermillion-red and pastel yellow and outlined in red and pink respectively, the long leafy stem enamelled in various shades of green, the interior with two freely floating delicate florets, the base inscribed in underglaze blue with a six-character reign mark within a double circle.

Provenance: Sotheby’s Hong Kong, 7th May 2002, lot 535.
Sotheby’s Hong Kong, 23rd October 2005, lot 435.

Note: Elegantly restrained in its design of two brightly coloured stalks of chrysanthemum, the present cup appears to have been inspired by famille verte cups of the Kangxi period, which were sparsely decorated with branches of fruit or flowers. The unusual thick coloured outlines of the flowers heighten the sense of naturalism, particularly on the iron red bloom which is painted in the ‘boneless style’, relying only on the varying tones of colour rather than a black outline to delineate forms.

A smaller Yongzheng cup decorated with similarly painted chrysanthemums, in the Wang Xing Lou collection, is illustrated inImperial Perfection. The Palace Porcelain of Three Chinese Emperors, Hong Kong, 2004, cat. no. 51.

This cup is a superb example of the high artistic standards achieved by the enamellers at the Jingdezhen kilns during the Yongzheng period. Along with an increased interest in the pureness of the porcelain body and the manner in which motifs were rendered, a greater emphasis was given to more naturalistic compositions on white ground than formal bands of floral decoration. Compare cups of slightly smaller size, sparsely painted with two stalks of poppies in full bloom and a bud, such as one from the Sir Percival David collection and now in the British Museum, London, illustrated by Rosemary Scott, Qing Enamelled Wares, London, 1991, pl. 821; and another, sold in our New York rooms, 16th September 2009, lot 205.

This palette and style of decoration continued into the Qianlong period, as seen on a pair of yangcai meiping vases, in the National Palace Museum, Taipei, included in the exhibition Stunning Decorative Porcelains from the Ch’ien-lung Reign, National Palace Museum, Taipei, 2008, cat. no. 56.

Sotheby’s. Fine Chinese Ceramics and Works of Art, Hong Kong | 08 oct. 2014