Lot 3551. A Famille-Rose ‘Apricot Blossom’ Month Cup, Mark and Period of Kangxi (1662-1722). D 6.5cm. Sold for HKD 780,000 (Estimate HKD 650,000 - 950,000). © Poly Auction Hong Kong Limited 2022
The cup is of small form, with a slightly flared rim and deep belly, the upper belly sloping and straight, the lower belly slightly folded, and the lower foot surrounded by a footrim, the surface of the cup being thin and light, the glaze warm and moist, the exterior and exterior glazed with white glaze, the exterior painted in five colours with a floral scene of apricot blossoms in February, the other side with an inscribed poem, 'The fragrance and the rain, the colour and the smoke', with a seal mark of 'Appreciate' at the end of the poem, and a six-character, three-line regular script mark in blue and white within a double circle, 'Made in the Kangxi period of the Qing dynasty'.
Provenance: Meiyintang Collection, Switzerland.
Published: Kang Ruijun, The Meiyintang Collection of Chinese Ceramics, Volume IV (II), London, 1994-2010, pp. 256-259, nos. 1728-1739.
Note: The use of Tang poetry as a note for the flower in the Cup of the God of Flowers is a result of the Kangxi Emperor's fondness for Tang poetry. In March 1705, he handed over the task of compiling a collection of Tang poems to Cao Yin, the Jiangning Weaver, and sent down a copy of Ji Zhenyi's Tang Poems from his collection to be used as the base for a proof copy. This coincided with the start of the third phase of official kiln firing at the Imperial kiln in Jingdezhen (1705-1722). In this context, it is only logical that Tang poetry should have been the subject of the twelve cups of the god of flowers. The use of ancient poetry as a motif on enamelled porcelain of the Yongzheng and Qianlong dynasties is a continuation of the classic pattern of using Tang poetry with the cups. The use of ancient poetry as a motif in the enamels of the Yongzheng and Qianlong dynasties is also a continuation of the classic pattern of using Tang poetry with the cups.
Translated with www.DeepL.com/Translator (free version).
Poly Auction Hong Kong Limited. A Romance Among Blooming Roses: The Meiyintang Collection of Three Dynasties Imperial Ceramics, Hong Kong, 2 Dec 2021
