A Lemon Yellow-Glazed Chrysanthemum Dish, Mark and Period of Qianlong
Lot 3560. A Lemon Yellow-Glazed Chrysanthemum Dish, Mark and Period of Qianlong (1736-1795). D 17.5cm. Sold for HKD 1,200,000 (Estimate HKD 450,000 - 650,000). © Poly Auction Hong Kong Limited 2022
Provenance: 1. J. Lionberger Davis Collection, St. Louis
2. Estate of G. Vietor and Maude O. Davis, Jr.
3. Meiyintang Collection, Switzerland.
Exhibited: 1. On loan to the St. Louis Art Museum
2. 'Great simplicity and simplicity: the essence of Ming and Qing monochrome glazes', Poly Art Museum, Beijing, 2018.
Published: 1. Kang Ruijun, The Meiyintang Collection of Chinese Ceramics, vol. 4 (2), London, 1994-2010, p. 393, no. 1832
2. Eskenazi, A Dealer's Hand: The Chinese Art World Through the Eyes of Giuseppe Eskenazi, London, 2012, p. 350, plate 432.
Note: Of chrysanthemum petal form, with a lavish mouth and curved walls and a footrim, the dish is of beautiful form and of fine white colour. The interior and exterior of the dish are covered with a lemon-yellow glaze, the colour of which is uniform and delicate, with a lustrous finish. The inner footrim is glazed in white, the glaze colour matching the form, making the dish look like a chrysanthemum in repose from afar. The footrim is finely finished, the body of the bottle being of a fine, delicate texture, and the white glaze on the outer foot is clear and moist.
In the late Kangxi period, antimony yellow glaze was introduced to the enamelling of enamelled porcelain by the House of Representatives. This type of yellow glaze was developed at the imperial kilns during the Yongzheng reign because of its elegance and popularity with the imperial family, and became known as 'Western yellow'. In the 'Record of the Tao Cheng', written by Tang Ying, a pottery official, in the thirteenth year of the Yongzheng reign, there is a list of 'Western yellow wares'. Because it was 'new to the dynasty', it stood out from the many other glazes made at the imperial kilns and was one of the 'fifty-seven types of annual tribute' listed, requiring annual tribute. Although the 'Western yellow wares' were tributed to the palace every year, the total number of pieces fired was small, and the number of chrysanthemum-petal dishes made at the Qianlong imperial kilns was even smaller. The chrysanthemum petals are more rounded than those of the Yongzheng kilns, and are slightly different from those of the Yongzheng imperial chrysanthemum-petal dishes, which are also elegant and refined. In addition to the present example, the Qianlong chrysanthemum-petal dish is also found in glazes such as white glaze, paste glaze, sprinkled blue glaze, pine green, pinkish-green, and carmine glaze, while the lemon yellow glaze is the only example found.
There are few examples of the same type in public and private collections, and only one example was released by Christie's Hong Kong in 1999 for comparison. An example in seal script from the Eskenazi Collection, London, later sold to the North American Ten-Faced Lingbi Mountain House Collection, Poly, Beijing, 5 June 2019, no. 5392.
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