An outstanding and possibly unique famille-rose and doucai moon flask, Seal mark and period of Yongzheng
Lot 106. The Leshantang Collection. An outstanding and possibly unique famille-rose and doucai moon flask, Seal mark and period of Yongzheng (1723-1735); 37.2 cm. Lot Sold 45,220,000 HKD (Estimate 20,000,000 - 30,000,000 HKD). © Sotheby's 2023
of impressively large size, superbly potted with a plump round body surmounted by a tall neck, with two elegant ruyi-cloud shaped handles joining the neck and shoulder, painted in a free and painterly manner with flower-and-bird motif on each side, one side with a magpie in underglaze-blue perched on a rocky outcrop issuing sprigs of lingzhi, chrysanthemum and convolvulus, the magpie calling up to its mate perched on a fruiting and flowering pomegranate tree, the other side with a pair of quails perched on a tall pierced rockwork, next to clusters of bamboo intertwined with sprays of roses, with further sprigs of chrysanthemum near the rockwork and a tall spray of hibiscus extending up the shoulders, the design throughout within delicately delineated underglaze-blue outlines, the multitude of auspicious fruits and flowers exquisitely painted in colour washes and shaded tones of red, yellow, blue, white, purple, and pink, further detailed with a fanciful variety of butterflies and insects hovering in various places, the scroll-shaped handles beautifully adorned with flowering sprigs and encircled by ruyi-head medallions at the terminals on the neck, beneath a narrow band of detached florettes between double lines on the rim, the base inscribed with a six-charcter seal mark in underglaze-blue.
Provenance: Sotheby's Hong Kong, 20th November 1985, lot 123 and cover (acquired after the sale).
Literature: Zhongguo mingtao Riben xunhui zhan. Gangtai mingjia shoucang taoci jingpin [Exhibition of famous Chinese ceramics touring Japan. Fine ceramics from private Hong Kong and Taiwanese Collections], Museum of History, Taipei, 1992, pp. 198-201.
Yeh Pei-lang, Beauty of Ceramics, vol. 6: Gems of the Doucai, Taipei, 1993, pl. 83.
The Leshantang Collection of Chinese Porcelain, Taipei, 2005, pl. 44.
Exhibited: Chūgoku meitō ten: Chūgoku tōji 2000-nen no seika [Exhibition of important Chinese ceramics: Essence of two thousand years of Chinese ceramics], Nihonbashi Takashimaya, Tokyo, and six other locations in Japan, 1992, cat. no. 133.
The Challenge of Past Masterpieces
Regina Krahl
The present flask takes on masterpieces from the absolute peak periods of China’s porcelain production, from the Yongle (1403-1424) and Chenghua (1465-1487) reigns, and yet represents a unique design, firmly anchored in the Yongzheng period (1723-1735). The Yongzheng reign saw undoubtedly the zenith of Qing dynasty (1644-1911) porcelain art, when the Emperor encouraged new styles and demanded extreme quality in every category. The most glorious antiques in the imperial collection were critically evaluated and their qualities scrutinized to serve as inspiration and standard for contemporary works. When the imperial workshops in Jingdezhen embarked on the creation of this flask, they set the bar high.
It seems obvious that the Yongzheng artists looked back to the best Yongle moon flasks and the finest Chenghua doucai pieces [...] to develop a contemporary work of art to enchant or even impress their fastidious connoisseur-emperor. This flask is one of the exceedingly rare Qing doucai examples – one is tempted to say the only one – that can hold its own in comparison with its great models.
Moon flasks with flower-and-bird designs had started life in the Yongle period, and in the Yongzheng reign, prototypes, such as the iconic piece in the Sir Percival David Collection (PDF A612, fig. 1) provided models for various blue-and-white versions. Polychrome moon flasks of Yongzheng mark and period are rare, and the few that exist are not painted in this free, artistic style, like ink paintings on album leaves or fans, but are decorated with rather formal patterns. The present moon flask is totally exceptional.
Fig. 1. A Blue And White ‘ Flower-And-Bird’ Moon Flask, Ming Dynasty, Yongle Period; Courtesy of The Trustees of The Sir Percival David Foundation; ©The Trustees of The British Museum, London, Accession No. PDF,A.612
Qing doucai wares are not associated with gorgeous paintings on porcelain. Doucai, often translated as ‘dove-tailed colours’, became a celebrated style in the Chenghua reign, when very small vessels were painted in a combination of underglaze cobalt-blue and overglaze enamel colours. When this complex style was revived in the Kangxi reign (1662-1722), it was predominantly used for rather rigid, repetitive designs. The responsibilities of the different painters appear to have been strictly separated, the underglaze painter only delineating outlines, the overglaze painter(s) only filling in colour washes, and neither seems to have enjoyed the artistic freedom required to achieve paintings like those on this flask.
The Chenghua prototypes had been very different. Cobalt blue was largely, but not exclusively, used for outlines, and the enamel painters did more than just ‘dove-tailing’ uniform washes into outlined spaces. On the famous Chenghua chicken cups, for example – such as the well-known piece from the Meiyintang, Sakamoto, E.T. Chow and Dreyfus collections sold in these rooms, 8th April 2014, lot 1 (fig. 2) – the underglaze painter sketched a completely free painting onto the unfired vessel, including motifs such as the rocks, fully painted in blue, accentuated by nuances in tone; and the enamel artist(s) introduced their own shading and details, unprompted by pre-drawn lines. These outstanding doucai nature scenes of the Yongzheng period required a complete break with the limiting approach that had informed the doucai style for some time, as the painters had to completely free themselves from the colouring-book principle.
Fig. 2. A Doucai ‘Chicken Cup’, Mark And Period Of Chenghua, Sotheby’s Hong Kong, 8th April 2014, Lot 1.
It seems obvious that the Yongzheng artists looked back to the best Yongle moon flasks and the finest Chenghua doucai pieces, absorbed their spirit, scanned their physical qualities and then drew from this rich fund to develop a contemporary work of art to enchant or even impress their fastidious connoisseur-emperor. This flask is one of the exceedingly rare Qing doucai examples – one is tempted to say the only one – that can hold its own in comparison with its great models. What makes this flask so remarkable besides its superb craftsmanship and stunning artistry is the creative employment of the pigments. It is apparent particularly in the butterflies and other insects that have been added in various places, where no outlines demanded their presence. The lack of cobalt blue around these motifs cleverly emphasizes the gossamer quality of their wings, especially in contrast to the unquestionable solidity of the all-blue rocks.
Chenghua doucai had a very short period of production and Qing doucai vessels such as the present flask simply do not seem to exist otherwise. To create such pieces may well have been too onerous, since they offered far more chances of failure than either pure blue-and-white, or later, pure fencai examples did.
Only one comparable vessel appears to be recorded, a smaller flask done in fencai only, from the collection of Sir Percival David, formerly that of Lord Redesdale, and now on loan to the British Museum, London (PDF 824). Sir Percival’s vase is considerably smaller (29.3 high), but with its ruyi-shaped handles very close in shape.
Only one comparable vessel appears to be recorded, a smaller flask done in fencai only, from the collection of Sir Percival David, formerly that of Lord Redesdale, and now on loan to the British Museum, London (PDF 824, figs 3 and 4). Sir Percival’s vase is considerably smaller (29.3 high), but with its ruyi-shaped handles very close in shape. Its two flower-and-bird paintings are very similar in their overall concept and asymmetrical layout, but executed without the use of underglaze cobalt blue. The Percival David flask is considered so iconic that the British Museum has been using its image frequently for publicity, for example, on the invitations to the opening of the Sir Joseph Hotung Centre for Ceramic Studies in the Museum, the new home of Sir Percival’s collection, or to advertise the Museum’s diploma course in Asian art; and it has of course been illustrated in numerous publications, for example, in R.L. Hobson, A Catalogue of Chinese Pottery and Porcelain in the Collection of Sir Percival David Bt FSA, London, 1934, p. 170 and pl. CLXIX; and in Regina Krahl and Jessica Harrison-Hall, Chinese Ceramics. Highlights of the Sir Percival David Collection, London, 2009, no. 44, to name only two. Otherwise, there is little to compare to the present flask.
Fig. 3. A famille-Rose 'bird' Moon Flask, Mark and Period of Yongzheng; Courtesy of The Trustees of The Sir Percival David Foundation; © The Trustees of The British Museum, London, Accession No. PDF.824.
Fig. 4. A famille-Rose 'bird' Moon Flask, Mark and Period of Yongzheng (Other View); Courtesy of The Trustees of The Sir Percival David Foundation; © The Trustees of The British Museum, London, Accession No. PDF.824.
Flower-and-bird paintings were one of China’s classic painting genres, and flower-and-bird motifs became a favoured topic for Yongzheng porcelains, particularly for falangcai, the vessels painted under the immediate watch of the Emperor in the Forbidden City. In the imperial workshops, the genre may have received a boost in interest, after the Kangxi Emperor had commissioned the court painter Jiang Tingxi (1669-1732), a specialist in flower-and-bird paintings, to prepare a Manual of Birds. Only a few leaves appear to be remaining of the Kangxi work, which comprised over three hundred paintings and descriptions (e.g. Sotheby’s Hong Kong, 12th October 2021, lot 2528, and 6th April 2023, lot 2575), but the Qianlong Emperor (r. 1736-1795) commissioned a close copy, of which four volumes are preserved in the Taipei Palace Museum (Gugong niao pu/The Manual of Birds, Taipei, 1997). Although these manuals were conceived more for scientific reasons, they were executed by court painters and represented works of art that undoubtedly influenced artists in general. Flower-and-bird albums (huaniao tuce) and flower albums (huahui tuce) with similar combinations of birds and plants, or plants only, often also featuring butterflies and other insects, were prepared by many eighteenth-century court painters.
The Qianlong version of the Manual of Birds includes a leaf with a pair of magpies (xique) (ibid., vol. 1, pp. 36f.), but even closer to the present birds is the painting of northern magpies (beixique) (ibid., vol. 1, pp. 34f.). With the character for happiness (xi) forming part of their name, these birds were considered birds of happiness, used as motifs in art particularly to wish marital happiness, here suitably paired with pomegranates, relating wishes for many sons. Quails (anchun), also depicted in the Qianlong bird manual (ibid., vol. 4, pp. 62f.), carry an equally strong auspicious message as part of their name is a homophone for ‘peace’ (an). Such auspicious imagery – also the addition of multi-coloured longevity funguses, lingzhi, near one of the rocks – was undoubtedly directly geared to please the Emperor, who was a great believer in auspicious symbolism.
Sotheby's. The Leshantang Collection – Treasures of Chinese Art from the Tsai I-Ming Collection, Hong Kong, 8 October 2023