A rare lemon-yellow-glazed cup, Mark and period of Yongzheng (1723-1735)

11 mars 2022

A rare lemon-yellow-glazed cup, Mark and period of Yongzheng (1723-1735)

Lot 79. A rare lemon-yellow-glazed cup, Mark and period of Yongzheng (1723-1735). Height 2⅞ in., 7.5 cm. Estimate: 100,000 - 150,000 USD. Lot sold: 220,500 USD. © Sothebys.

the base with a six-character mark in underglaze blue within a double-rectangle with canted corners.

Provenance: Christie's London, 4th May 1964, lot 70.

Collection of Dr Wou Kiuan (1910-1997).

Wou Lien-Pai Museum, 1968-present, coll. no. Q.8.16.

Literature: Rose Kerr et al., Chinese Antiquities from the Wou Kiuan Collection. Wou Lien-Pai Museum, Hong Kong, 2011, pl. 145.

Note:This cup, seemingly simple in form and color, is a fine example of the technical perfection achieved by potters working at the imperial kilns during the Yongzheng reign (1723-35). The successful production of such delicate monochrome wares required extra precision in potting, glazing and firing. Although imperial yellow-glazed wares had been created from the early Ming dynasty (1368-1644), this elegant pastel hue of lemon-yellow enamel had been introduced just prior to the Yongzheng period. Conforming to the small size of the base, the reign mark inscribed within a double rectangle with chamfered corners on this piece is extremely rare. The present cup is also unusual in its flaring profile.

A larger pair of cups, with a slightly less flared rim and the reign mark enclosed within a double circle, is preserved in the Museum of Far Eastern Antiquities, Stockholm (accession no. OM-1977-0127), illustrated in Jan Wirgin, Chinese Ceramics from the Axel and Nora Lundgren Bequest, Stockholm, 1978, pl. 58a, no. 77. Compare also two smaller pairs with straighter sides, formerly in the Sir Percival David Collection: one pair in the British Museum, London (accession no. PDF,A.567), recorded in Rosemary Scott, Illustrated Catalogue of Ming and Qing Monochrome Wares in the Percival David Foundation of Chinese Art, London, 1989, p. 39; the other pair included in the exhibition Chinese Ceramics from the Meiyintang Collection, British Museum, London, 1994, and illustrated in Regina Krahl, Chinese Ceramics from the Meiyintang Collection, London, 1994-2010, vol. 2, p. 240, no. 908.

Sotheby's. A Journey Through China's History. The Dr Wou Kiuan Collection Part 1, New York, 22 March 2022