Lot 18. A rare and large painted enamel panel, 18th century; 72cm (28 3/8in) across. Estimate HK$140,000-200,000. Sold for HK$ 175,000 (€ 20,791). Photo: Bonhams.

Brightly and finely enamelled in rich pastel tones with a mountainous riverscape enclosing a fenced pavilion and pagoda and clusters of wooded groves set amidst rocky outcrop, populated by several scholars admiring the landscape, two crossing a bridge, and fishermen in sampans in a wide river estuary. 

Provenance: Acquired from Spink & Son, Ltd., London, 29 May 1956, and thence by descent
An important European private collection.

Note: The subject matter of a mountainous river landscape with pavilions, as in the present panel, was much favoured by the Qing court and literati, and alludes to the idealised scholar's retreat. This panel, is however, rare in its impressive size, utilising the painted enamel on copper medium as a painting canvas.

Painted enamels on copper objects were produced in the imperial ateliers in Beijing as well as in workshops in Guangzhou; the latter produced objects both for the literati and tribute to the Qing court. See for example a pair of painted enamel panels decorated with landscape and pavilions, made as imperial tribute from Guangdong, from the Qing Court collection, illustrated in The Complete Collection of Treasures of the Palace Museum: Metal-bodied Enamel Ware, Shanghai, 2008, pls.234 and 235. See also a related painted enamel vase, mid-Qing dynasty, employing a similar palette, illustrated by Zheng Xinmiao, ed., Compendium of Collections in the Palace Museum: Enamels, 5, Painted Enamels in the Qing Dynasty (1644-1911), Beijing, 2011, pl.196.

Painting in enamels on copper is essentially a Western art that gained prominence in northern Europe during the Renaissance. It was introduced to China during the Kangxi period in the early 18th century, and flourished under the reign of the Qianlong emperor. Once the piece was shaped, the copper was prepared with a ground of plain enamel to receive the painting in glassy pigments which then bonded to it by firing. The resulting clear and brilliant contrast of colours, which allowed for ornate decoration, was particularly suited to the Qianlong emperor's taste for the opulent and exotic.

Bonhams. EXCEPTIONAL CHINESE ART FROM A EUROPEAN PRIVATE COLLECTION, 3 Dec 2015 10:30 HKT - HONG KONG, ADMIRALTY