Lot 1806. A pair of pink-enameled wine cups, Yongzheng period (1723-1735); 3 in. (7.1 cm.) diam. Estimate USD 10,000 - USD 15,000. Price realised USD 52,500. © Christie's Images Ltd 2011.  

Each thinly potted with deep rounded sides rising to a slightly everted rim, the exterior covered in rose-pink enamel and the bottom of the interior painted with a rose sprig.  

Provenance: Bluett, London.

Note: Rose-pink enamel seems to have first appeared in the Chinese palette at the end of the Kangxi period (1662-1722). It is reported by W.D. Kingery and P.B. Vandiver in 'The Eighteenth century change in technology and style from the famille verte to the famille rose palette', Technology and Style: Ceramics and Civilization - 2, Ohio, 1986, that this color enamel was made not by precipitation but by making up a ruby glass and grinding it up as a pigment to be dispersed in the clear enamel. The advantages of this method, which was well known among glass makers, was that it used less gold and it was also easier to achieve an even coloration within the enamel. The present wine cups are a testimony of this skill in attaining an evenness of tone and brightness of color.