Lot 521. A rare and impressive yellow-ground green-enameled blue and white 'dragon' meiping, Qing dynasty, Qianlong period (1736-1795). Height 34 cm; Japanese wood box (3). Lot Sold 698,500 USD (Estimate 300,000 - 500,000 USD). © Sotheby's 2023

the base of each with a six-character seal mark in underglaze blue (2)

Provenance: Acquired in Kyoto, circa 1997 (by repute).
American Private Collection, since 2000. 

Ming Dynasty Aesthetics for a Qing Emperor: A Rare and Impressive Qianlong meiping

The vibrant color palette, striking painting, and commanding form of this meiping harmonize to create a highly impressive work of art. The vase pays homage to early Ming dynasty porcelain styles, reflecting their enduring power more than three hundred years later. The prevailing interest in classicism during the Qianlong period was driven in no small part by the Emperor himself and was translated into imperial porcelains under the supervision of Tang Ying (1682-1756), the Superintendent of the Imperial Kilns in Jingdezhen. Tang Ying entered the Imperial Household Department at the age of 16, where he had the opportunity to study the Qing Court Collection. These encounters were probably essential to Tang Ying's ability to later adapt older ceramic traditions into new creations that catered to Qianlong's tastes and predilections.

Various elements of early Ming porcelain are presented on this vase, including the subject matter, painting style, and color palette. Five powerful dragons stride across the porcelain surface against a ground of large blossoms and leafy scrolls, each beast captured in a different pose. Some descend vertically, displaying their long sinuous bodies and elegant profiles, while others coil with arms outstretched, assuming a more frontal position. Not only do these variations display the full range of the creatures' expressive power and the painter's skill, by ascending and descending across the vessel, the dragons enhance its sweeping, three-dimensional voluminous form. While dragons are a common motif in porcelain, they are less commonly depicted with floral scrolls as seen here. This combination of dragons and flowers derives from early 15th century porcelain, such as a tianqiuping painted with a large dragon amidst floral scrolls, illustrated in Rosemary Scott, Elegant Form and Harmonious Decoration: Four Dynasties of Jingdezhen Porcelain, London, 1992, pl. 24. 

The masterful handling of cobalt-blue on this vase showcases the impressive range of tonality that can be achieved by a single hue. The entire design is delineated in thin blue wash, with details like the dragon heads, claws, flower petals, and leaves finely picked out in intense dark blue spots, imbuing the painting with depth and dimension. This mottled 'heaped and piled' manner of painting deliberately references the early Ming use of cobalt pigment on porcelain, whereby dark blue spots developed in certain areas due to the accumulation of iron-oxide. 

Finally, the combination of a yellow overglaze enamel ground and underglaze-blue painting also derives from the early Ming dynasty, first appearing on porcelain during the Xuande period. For example, see a Xuande mark and period dish with cobalt-painted fruit sprays against a yellow enamel ground, illustrated in ibid., pl. 42. Yellow was favored for its imperial association, and this vibrant palette continued into the Qing dynasty. In the Qianlong period, it was sometimes enhanced by a subtle addition of transparent green or turquoise enamel at the borders of porcelain pieces, as seen on the present meiping. 

This vase is extremely rare and would likely have originally been inscribed with a Qianlong seal mark. Compare a blue and white meiping of very similar profile and design illustrated in The Complete Collection of Treasures of the Palace Museum. Blue and White Porcelain with Underglazed Red (III), Hong Kong, 2000, pl. 116. For a yellow-ground blue and white vase painted with a similar pattern, also with the wave borders applied with transparent green enamel, see a magnificent tianqiuping sold in our Hong Kong rooms, 3rd April 2018, lot 3620. Compare also a yellow-ground 'dragon' bottle vase published in Ethereal Elegance: Porcelain Vases of the Imperial Qing. The Huaihaitang Collection, Hong Kong, 2007, pl. 116, and an interlocking jiaotai yellow-ground vase painted with a related floral scroll, also with the keyfret registers under green enamel, illustrated in The Complete Collection of Treasures of the Palace Museum, op. cit. pl. 236. A yellow-ground vase with floral scroll and green-enameled borders was sold in these rooms, 13th September 2017, lot 25. For Yongzheng period moonflasks featuring a related composite blue and white floral scroll against yellow enamel, see one included in ibid., pl. 233, and another sold at Christie's Hong Kong, 30th November 2011, lot 2944. 

For other Qianlong vessels decorated with early Ming-inspired designs on a yellow ground, see a meiping decorated with branches of fruits and flowers, included in The Tsui Museum of Art. Chinese Ceramics IV- Qing Dynasty, Hong Kong, 1995, pl. 88, and one sold in these rooms, 23rd-24th March 1998, lot 674, and again at Christie's New York, 24th September 2020, lot 1615. Two yellow-ground Ming-style dishes are also illustrated in ibid., pls 90 and 91.