Lot 3621. A fine and very rare ruby-enamelled winecup, Mark and period of Kangxi (1662-1722); 9.2 cm. Lot Sold 3,683,000 HKD (Estimate 2,000,000 - 4,000,000 HKD) © Sotheby's 2025

Provenance: Sotheby's Hong Kong, 28th/29th April 1992, lot 66 (one of a pair).

Note: Taking the throne amidst the turmoil of civil war, the Kangxi Emperor spent his illustrious sixty-one-year reign consolidating his power and uniting China under Manchu rule – building the foundations for modern China as we know it today. After those sixty-one brutal and rewarding years, you might expect the Emperor to have faded; to have abandoned innovation and rested on his laurels in glory. You would, however, be mistaken. As the Kangxi reign drew to a close, the Emperor and his artisans continued to embody the Kangxi vision of scientific advancement and the pursuit of beauty. In the early 1720s, after years of experimenting and developing recipes brought by Jesuit missionaries, the glass and enameling workshops of the Forbidden City landed upon a ground-breaking discovery – a new enamel that would revolutionize the color palette of Chinese porcelain and beyond: ruby-pink. This enamel, known as yanzhi hong (rouge red) by the imperial court, would soon be renowned across Europe as rose , the basis of the soon ubiquitous famille-rose palette and an unrivalled testament to the technical mastery of the imperial kilns. 

To date, no other Kangxi wine cups of this elegant form appear to be published. Compare a more common – though still extremely rare – Kangxi cup variation of broader proportions and straight tapering sides and decorated to the interior with famille-rose fruits and seeds, of which only four extant pairs appear to be known: one from the Ton-Ying Collection, sold at the American Art Association, Anderson Galeries, New York, 24th January 1930, lot 310; a second from the collection of TY Chao, sold in these rooms, 18th November 1986, lot 131; a third pair sold in these rooms, 16th November 1988, lot 366 and again at Christie's Hong Kong from the Greenwald Collection, 1st December 2010, lot 2813; and a fourth smaller pair from the Paul and Helen Bernat Collection, sold in these rooms, 15th November 1988, lot 49, and again at Christie's Hong Kong, 29th November 2009, lot 1759. Compare also a pair of this latter design but with plain white interiors from the Paget Collection, preserved in the British Museum, London, illustrated in SJ Vainker, Chinese Pottery and Porcelain , London, 1991, pl. 158, in which the writer posits that these ruby ​​wares must only have been produced in the last year two or so years of the Kangxi reign, around the 1720; and an individual ruby-back Kangxi cup of a more closely comparable curved form in the collection of the Fondation Baur, Geneva, illustrated in John Ayers, The Baur Collection , vol. III: Monochrome Glazed Porcelains of the Ch'ing Dynasty , Geneva, 1974, pl. A482.

Invaluable in confirming the dating of the imperial discovery and the origins of these spellbinding cups, compare also three other ruby-backed pieces without Kangxi marks but inscribed with the cyclical date of the xinchou year (corresponding to 1721): a flared bowl with a plain white interior, included in the Special Exhibition of Ch'eng-hua Porcelain , National Palace Museum, Taipei, 1976, cat. no. 150; a saucer dish with famille-rose flowers to the interior, from the collection of Sir Percival David now preserved in the British Museum, London (accession no. PDF,A.832); and a rounded bowl, also in the British Museum with flowers to the interior, illustrated in Soame Jenyns, Later Chinese Porcelain , London, 1951, pl. LIX.

Emperor Kangxi reigned for 61 years and established a stable regime. Even in his later years, he was still committed to pursuing national progress and promoting the development of science and technology. With the strong support of the emperor, after years of experiments and research, the formula introduced by Jesuit missionaries finally succeeded in producing rouge red, known as rose in Europe, in the early 1720s. Based on this, pastel porcelain was developed, laying the foundation for the unparalleled porcelain-making technology of the official kilns of the Qing Dynasty.

There is no example similar to this one in the records. It can only be compared with another type of small horseshoe-shaped cup with an open mouth and sloping walls, decorated with flowers and fruits, which is also rare. Only four pairs are known to exist, including one from the collection of Tongyun Company, sold at Anderson Galeries in New York on January 24, 1930, lot 310; one from the collection of Mr. Zhao Congyan, sold at Sotheby's Hong Kong on November 18, 1986, lot 131; the third pair was originally from the collection of Greenwald, first sold at Sotheby's Hong Kong on November 16, 1988, lot 366, and later sold at Christie's Hong Kong in December 2010, lot 2813. See also a pair formerly from the collection of Paul and Helen Bernat, sold at Christie’s Hong Kong on November 27, 2007, lot 1759. There are no patterns on the inner wall, such as a pair of Kangxi examples in the British Museum, numbered 1945,1016.8-9, recorded in Shelagh J. Vainker, "Chinese Pottery and Porcelain", London, 1991, plate 158. The author believes that this should have been made in the late Kangxi period, around 1720. There is another example, from the collection of Bauer in Geneva, recorded in John. Ayers, The Baur Collection Geneva: Chinese Ceramics, Geneva, 1968-74, vol. 3, pl. A 482.

Three other examples of rouge-red glaze were also referenced. Although they did not bear the Kangxi reign mark, they were dated Xinchou, i.e. 1721, leaving a record of this technical innovation: one is a lipped bowl with a plain white interior, exhibited in the "Special Exhibition of Ming Chenghua Porcelain" at the Palace Museum, Taipei, 1976, No. 150; another is a small plate from the collection of Sir Percival David with painted pink flowers inside, now in the British Museum, London, No. PDF, A.832; and there is another example in the British Museum, a rouge-red glazed bowl with painted flowers inside, published in Soame Jenyns, "Later Chinese Porcelain", London, 1951, Plate LIX.

Lot 3625. A rare ruby-enamelled winecup, Mark and period of Kangxi (1662-1722); d. 9.2 cm. Lot Sold 330,200 HKD (Estimate 80,000 - 120,000 HKD) © Sotheby's 2025

Provenance: Sotheby's Hong Kong, 28th/29th April 1992, lot 66 (one of a pair with lot 3621).

Note: Cf. lot 3621)

Lot 3655. Property from the Houlezhai Collection. A copper-red glazed bowl, Qing dynasty, Kangxi period (1662-1722); d. 20 cm. Lot Sold 279,400 HKD (Estimate 100,000 - 300,000 HKD) © Sotheby's 2025

Provenance: Frank Partridge (1875-1953), London.
Collection of Sir Alexander Nairne Stewart Sandeman, 1st Baronet (1876-1940), London.
Christie's London, 22nd May 1954, lot 74.
Bluets, London, 22nd May 1954.
Collection of Harold Esslemont (1901-1992), Aberdeen, acquired from the above, until 2nd December 1958.
Bluets, London, 8th April 1959.
Collection of Wilfrid A. Evill (1890-1963), London, acquired from the above.
Sotheby's London, 30th November 1965, lot 60.
Collection of Major Edward Copleston Radcliffe (1898-1967), England, no. C4, acquired from the above through Bluett & Sons, London.

Lot 3620. A large and rare Ru-type moonflask, Seal mark and period of Yongzheng (1723-1735); 48.2 cm. Lot Sold 3,683,000 HKD (Estimate 2,000,000 - 4,000,000 HKD) © Sotheby's 2025

Provenance: Sotheby's Hong Kong, 4th May 1994, lot 112.

Note: The elegant curves of the flattened globular form, the mellow sheen of the bluish-grey glaze, and the even spread of subtle crackles exemplify the refined taste of the Yongzheng Emperor (r. 1722-1735). The deceptively simple presentations made the highest demands on the imperial kiln's aesthetic conception and technical prowess. The employment of this form and glaze reflects the emperor's adoration for archaism, demonstrated via taking inspiration from prototypes of earlier dynasties. Creating such an imposing vessel, with its consummate proportion and rich glaze, required not only highly developed porcelain mastery but also the emperor's generous patronage that fueled the innovation in the imperial kiln.

Immediately after ascending the throne, the Yongzheng Emperor commissioned porcelain from the palace workshops, and an unprecedented style began to take shape, which incorporated the emperor's fascination with antiquity. The Yongzheng interpretations of moon flasks followed the paragons of the Yongle (r. 1402-1424) period, a heyday in China's diplomatic history when Chinese artisans absorbed and revamped foreign styles; the Yongle prototypes for the Yongzheng potters were arguably a result of the emperor's outward-looking policy. The body of the moon flask, harmoniously rounded like in the present piece, is reminiscent of a full moon, as suggested by its poetic Chinese name baoyue or 'embracing the moon'; the poetry in concept must have enthralled the cultured emperor, who commissioned moon flasks of varied sizes both in monochrome and polychrome. See a considerably smaller flask decorated in famille-rose from the collection of Sir Percival David (PDF 824, 29.3 cm) and a famille-rose and doucai flask (37.2 cm) released from the Leshantang Collection, the latter sold in these rooms, 8th October 2023, lot 106.

Monochrome glazes on flasks, however, are more directly redolent of the Yongzheng Emperor's definition of elegance. The absence of decoration on simplistic forms was a stylistic trend introduced by Tang Ying (1682-1756), the Superintendent of the Imperial kilns in Jingdezhen. Under his supervision, research into celebrated Song glazes such as Ru, Guan, and Ge wares led to the revival of monochrome porcelain to imitate earlier wares. The glaze on the present flask, of intense bluish gray suffused with a complex interlaced 'ice crackle' pattern, first appeared on the Ru official wares of the Northern Song (960-1127) court. The color had been of the highest class since its creation, even more legendary since the disappearance of the short-lived kiln, and the Yongzheng artisans' distinctive imitation of it attests to the emperor's penchant for the classic.

Yongzheng reign-marked porcelains of massive sizes are rare. Excellently proportioned, the present flask required meticulous efforts in potting and firing to ensure balanced uprightness; to match the scale, the application of glaze was thick, which further demanded accurate control of kiln temperature to pull off the classic colour. It was the endeavor, blessed with a touch of luck, that realized this grand moon flask.

Publications record no closely related example, although moon flasks of the Yongzheng mark and period appear in various Song-inspired glazes. Compare a Ru-type flask of slightly larger size (53.3 cm) but with a pear-shaped mouth above a waisted neck, from the collection of Xu Shichang (1855-1939), sold at Christie's Hong Kong, 30th May 2012, lot 3966; a Guan-type flask, of similar size (50.4 cm) but with a quatrefoil section, once in the collection of Sir Harry (1891-1977) and Lady Garner, later collected by Professor Edward T. Hall (1924-2001), sold at Christie's London, 10th November 2015, lot 338; a Ge-type flask, also large (51 cm) but molded with bosses and 'Eight Trigrams' to the body, sold in our London rooms, 8th November 2006, lot 173. However, none of the examples seem to achieve the sheer simplicity seen in the present piece

Sotheby's. Chinese Art, Hong Kong, 7 May 2025