Decade 1720-1729
See also : Ancient French furniture Musical instrument Violin Chinese porcelain Qing porcelain Early Qing Jade Dragon
1720 Bureau Plat by Boulle
2005 SOLD for £ 2.9M including premium by Christie's
narrated in 2012 before the auction of another bureau by Europ Auction (see below)
André-Charles Boulle was appointed Ebéniste, Ciseleur, Doreur et Sculpteur du Roi in 1672. At the end of the reign of Louis XIV, his prestige is unprecedented, and his capacity for innovation is breathtaking. He is the pioneer of the various forms of French furniture of the eighteenth century including from 1713 the most elegant of them, the bureau plat.
A bureau plat (flat desk) is a table equipped with a belt of drawers whose center can hide secret drawers. If the space for storage is insufficient, you can fit a cartonnier at the end of the table. This highly functional furniture has first been produced for luxury furnishing. Boulle also innovated by his gilded bronze decorations anticipating Cressent.
Boulle was using the most precious materials with a subtle sophistication. High end furniture was made in pairs, with similar or even identical decorations but with a reversed distribution of materials : the première partie and the contre-partie.
On December 15, 2005, Christie's sold for £ 2.9M including premium over a lower estimate a bureau plat in première partie made by Boulle, without cartonnier, lot 15. With its 204 x 105 cm top, it is in the largest format ever made by Boulle.
Another piece passed at Europ Auction on September 26, 2012. It was probably the contre-partie of the above, of similar size. Slight differences between both bureaux suggest that it was in the Boulle workshop during the 1720 fire and then had to be repaired.
A bureau plat (flat desk) is a table equipped with a belt of drawers whose center can hide secret drawers. If the space for storage is insufficient, you can fit a cartonnier at the end of the table. This highly functional furniture has first been produced for luxury furnishing. Boulle also innovated by his gilded bronze decorations anticipating Cressent.
Boulle was using the most precious materials with a subtle sophistication. High end furniture was made in pairs, with similar or even identical decorations but with a reversed distribution of materials : the première partie and the contre-partie.
On December 15, 2005, Christie's sold for £ 2.9M including premium over a lower estimate a bureau plat in première partie made by Boulle, without cartonnier, lot 15. With its 204 x 105 cm top, it is in the largest format ever made by Boulle.
Another piece passed at Europ Auction on September 26, 2012. It was probably the contre-partie of the above, of similar size. Slight differences between both bureaux suggest that it was in the Boulle workshop during the 1720 fire and then had to be repaired.
1721 The Lady Blunt
2011 SOLD 9.8 M£ including premium
The art of Antonio Stradivari has never been equaled. The wood of his instruments was carefully selected, the master was a very clever manufacturer and an excellent mathematician. The secret of the high quality of his violins has however never been discovered.
An interesting hypothesis, not proven, is based on the fact that instruments made at the same time by Andrea Guarneri are approaching the quality of the Stradivarius: the very cold climate of the late seventeenth century would have created less dense wood by slowing the growth of trees.
The Lady Blunt has all the qualities required to excite violinists and experts. Luckily, this specimen is very close to its original state. It was manufactured in 1721, in the best time of Stradivari. It belonged to Jean-Baptiste Vuillaume, the French violin maker of the nineteenth century who made commendable efforts to understand and achieve the quality of the Stradivarius.
In 2008, this wonderful violin was purchased by Nippon Music in a private transaction whose amount exceeded $ 10M. This Tokyo foundation has decided to sell it to benefit the victims of the earthquake and tsunami. The auction, which will be held on June 20 in London, is entrusted to Tarisio which is a leader in this market.
The Lady Blunt is illustrated in the article shared by the Wall Street Journal.
POST SALE COMMENT
Here is the auction result of a Stradivarius violin in exceptional condition : £ 8.75M before fees.
The advertised price of the private transaction of 2008 is exceeded.
Congratulations to Tarisio for this great sale.
I invite you to play the video shared on YouTube by Tarisio. It is also shared on Wikimedia.
An interesting hypothesis, not proven, is based on the fact that instruments made at the same time by Andrea Guarneri are approaching the quality of the Stradivarius: the very cold climate of the late seventeenth century would have created less dense wood by slowing the growth of trees.
The Lady Blunt has all the qualities required to excite violinists and experts. Luckily, this specimen is very close to its original state. It was manufactured in 1721, in the best time of Stradivari. It belonged to Jean-Baptiste Vuillaume, the French violin maker of the nineteenth century who made commendable efforts to understand and achieve the quality of the Stradivarius.
In 2008, this wonderful violin was purchased by Nippon Music in a private transaction whose amount exceeded $ 10M. This Tokyo foundation has decided to sell it to benefit the victims of the earthquake and tsunami. The auction, which will be held on June 20 in London, is entrusted to Tarisio which is a leader in this market.
The Lady Blunt is illustrated in the article shared by the Wall Street Journal.
POST SALE COMMENT
Here is the auction result of a Stradivarius violin in exceptional condition : £ 8.75M before fees.
The advertised price of the private transaction of 2008 is exceeded.
Congratulations to Tarisio for this great sale.
I invite you to play the video shared on YouTube by Tarisio. It is also shared on Wikimedia.
By Tarisio Auctions. Violachick68 at English Wikipedia - Was sent to me personally, CC BY-SA 3.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=28827720
1722 The Double Lotus
2019 SOLD for HK$ 87M including premium
During the 57th year of Kangxi, corresponding to 1718 CE, the workshops that produce the falangcai are changing their location in the imperial palace for reinforcing the direct control by the emperor.
Kangxi is acting at two key points, first to approve the piece in white porcelain provided by Jingdezhen, and then to accept the finished piece. For this emperor, technological development is more important than production and the falangcai bearing his mark are very rare. Most are marked Kangxi yuzhi meaning that they were made for the personal use of the emperor.
The falangcai is the "color of foreigners", following a technology transfer of European enamels on copper from 1693 CE. A quarter of a century later, European enamellers are still working side by side with Chinese artists, but the technology has already considerably changed, first because porcelain is foremost a Chinese specialty, then because the European colors did not reach the purity and the brightness required by the emperor.
The themes are mostly floral. A bowl decorated with flowers in a style inspired by European botanical books was sold for HK $ 240M including premium by Sotheby's on April 3, 2018. The flowers are displayed within four lobed cartridges on a pink background enhanced with colloidal gold.
At the end of his life, Kangxi needs a little calm that he finds in the contemplation of his lotus ponds. He follows for this flower the Confucianist interpretation evoking the simplicity and uprightness of a perfect gentleman. Able to simultaneously display buds, blooming flowers and seed pods, the lotus is also a symbol of past, present and future times.
During the 61st and final year of his reign matching 1722 CE, Kangxi admires a lotus bouquet in ink and colors which had been prepared at his request by the artist Jiang Tingxi. The bouquet includes among others a pink double lotus, symbol of harmony in the couple. The double lotus with two flower heads on a stem is a rarity of nature that gardeners cannot create artificially, just like the four-leaf clover.
A falangcai bowl 11 cm in diameter with the Kangxi yuzhi mark was certainly made in the follow of Kangxi's excitement for the lotus painting. The circumference of the bowl, unlike the bouquet, allows a scrolling observation. The flowers have a great similarity to the model and include three double lotuses. Realism is extreme, including aging leaf edges and holes made by insects.
The splendid colors are now completely differentiated from the enamels imported from Europe. The three basic colors are the rubyred used for the background, the white and the yellow. The rest of the palette, pink, blue and green, is obtained by chemical additions and mixtures.
This bowl was sold for HK $ 74M including premium by Sotheby's on April 8, 2013, lot 101. I had discussed it in this column before the sale. It will be sold by Christie's in Hong Kong on November 27, lot 2988.
Kangxi is acting at two key points, first to approve the piece in white porcelain provided by Jingdezhen, and then to accept the finished piece. For this emperor, technological development is more important than production and the falangcai bearing his mark are very rare. Most are marked Kangxi yuzhi meaning that they were made for the personal use of the emperor.
The falangcai is the "color of foreigners", following a technology transfer of European enamels on copper from 1693 CE. A quarter of a century later, European enamellers are still working side by side with Chinese artists, but the technology has already considerably changed, first because porcelain is foremost a Chinese specialty, then because the European colors did not reach the purity and the brightness required by the emperor.
The themes are mostly floral. A bowl decorated with flowers in a style inspired by European botanical books was sold for HK $ 240M including premium by Sotheby's on April 3, 2018. The flowers are displayed within four lobed cartridges on a pink background enhanced with colloidal gold.
At the end of his life, Kangxi needs a little calm that he finds in the contemplation of his lotus ponds. He follows for this flower the Confucianist interpretation evoking the simplicity and uprightness of a perfect gentleman. Able to simultaneously display buds, blooming flowers and seed pods, the lotus is also a symbol of past, present and future times.
During the 61st and final year of his reign matching 1722 CE, Kangxi admires a lotus bouquet in ink and colors which had been prepared at his request by the artist Jiang Tingxi. The bouquet includes among others a pink double lotus, symbol of harmony in the couple. The double lotus with two flower heads on a stem is a rarity of nature that gardeners cannot create artificially, just like the four-leaf clover.
A falangcai bowl 11 cm in diameter with the Kangxi yuzhi mark was certainly made in the follow of Kangxi's excitement for the lotus painting. The circumference of the bowl, unlike the bouquet, allows a scrolling observation. The flowers have a great similarity to the model and include three double lotuses. Realism is extreme, including aging leaf edges and holes made by insects.
The splendid colors are now completely differentiated from the enamels imported from Europe. The three basic colors are the rubyred used for the background, the white and the yellow. The rest of the palette, pink, blue and green, is obtained by chemical additions and mixtures.
This bowl was sold for HK $ 74M including premium by Sotheby's on April 8, 2013, lot 101. I had discussed it in this column before the sale. It will be sold by Christie's in Hong Kong on November 27, lot 2988.
#Bestof2019 This rare Kangxi falangcai ‘double lotus’ bowl, once owned by the legendary Chinese porcelain collector Robert Chang, sold for HK$87,200,000 in Hong Kong in November https://t.co/oEETFj8RDK pic.twitter.com/BAMaKjvv33
— Christie's (@ChristiesInc) December 28, 2019
1722 A Ruby-Red Falangcai
2016 SOLD for HK$ 41M including premium
Falangcai means foreign colors. The contribution of "foreigners" in this new technique is the use of enamel powders allowing yellows, reds and blues of an unprecedented brilliance in Chinese porcelain.
The details of the process were developed during the last years of Kangxi by the potters of Jingdezhen and Beijing to the direct service of the imperial court. Some pieces appear unique in their combination of shape, size, themes and colors, suggesting an experimental phase.
On November 30 in Hong Kong, Christie's sells a cup 6.3 cm in diameter, lot 3218 estimated HK $ 40M. It bears the imperial mark of Yongzheng but several characteristics allow to date it more precisely in the Kangxi-Yongzheng transition, around 1722 of our calendar.
Its footless cup shape was more popular under Kangxi and became rare with Yongzheng. It is decorated with auspicious themes within a ruby red ground that was already in use under Kangxi. The aesthetic quality of the winding of the blossoming branch of plum throughout the perimeter is more linked with Yongzheng's requirements for a supreme exquisiteness.
The powder for making the red ground was blown by the potter in a bamboo tube through a gauze while the decoration previously painted on the glaze was preserved in reserves. The joint achievement of a perfect homogeneity of the ground and a great sharpness in the outlines of the reserves is a feat requiring the total control of the breath during the blowing.
In the development of Qing porcelain, this cup may be compared with a bowl bearing the imperial mark of Kangxi, sold for HK $ 74M including premium by Sotheby's on April 8, 2013. This unique piece was decorated with lotus on a ruby ground.
The details of the process were developed during the last years of Kangxi by the potters of Jingdezhen and Beijing to the direct service of the imperial court. Some pieces appear unique in their combination of shape, size, themes and colors, suggesting an experimental phase.
On November 30 in Hong Kong, Christie's sells a cup 6.3 cm in diameter, lot 3218 estimated HK $ 40M. It bears the imperial mark of Yongzheng but several characteristics allow to date it more precisely in the Kangxi-Yongzheng transition, around 1722 of our calendar.
Its footless cup shape was more popular under Kangxi and became rare with Yongzheng. It is decorated with auspicious themes within a ruby red ground that was already in use under Kangxi. The aesthetic quality of the winding of the blossoming branch of plum throughout the perimeter is more linked with Yongzheng's requirements for a supreme exquisiteness.
The powder for making the red ground was blown by the potter in a bamboo tube through a gauze while the decoration previously painted on the glaze was preserved in reserves. The joint achievement of a perfect homogeneity of the ground and a great sharpness in the outlines of the reserves is a feat requiring the total control of the breath during the blowing.
In the development of Qing porcelain, this cup may be compared with a bowl bearing the imperial mark of Kangxi, sold for HK $ 74M including premium by Sotheby's on April 8, 2013. This unique piece was decorated with lotus on a ruby ground.
D'après vous, qu’est-ce qui fait que cette coupe est exceptionnelle ? https://t.co/rIeVazGGnV #CéramiqueChinoise #ArtChinois pic.twitter.com/hlh7V4gJxk
— Christie's Paris (@christiesparis) November 25, 2016
1725 The Jade Seals of the Yongzheng Emperor
2015 SOLD for HK$ 105M including premium
The Yongzheng Emperor had an original and exquisite artistic taste. A eunuch serving as a majordomo transferred to the workshops the edicts by which the emperor expressed his desires. The records have been kept. Regarding the seals, an extreme accuracy in descriptions and sizes allows to attribute the pieces.
The 15th day of the 7th month of the third year of the reign, August 22, 1725 in our calendar, the eunuch commissions two white jade seals for the same inscription along with their boxes. Five days later a bronze prototype of the inscription is submitted to an inspection.
Both jade seals are completed in the next month, nine days apart one another. This great speed of execution is explained by the fact that the workshops had re-carved two ancient seals that the emperor himself had probably chosen in the imperial collection before issuing his order.
The smaller of the two seals, 5.5 x 5.6 cm, carved with a dragon in Yuan style, was sold for HK $ 35,4M including premium by Sotheby's on October 5, 2011.
The other seal, reworked from a Kangxi figure, is larger and more ambitious. 7.4 cm high on a square base 6.1 x 6.1 cm, it has the form of a rock on which a hornless dragon or chilong is reclining with a wide open mouth in a threatening attitude. The rock is flanked by eight other chi moving amidst clouds.
This seal is offered with its luxurious original box inlaid in ivory. It is estimated HK $ 30M for sale by Sotheby's in Hong Kong on April 7, lot 102.
Both seals discussed above are exceptional. Although Yongzheng has ordered more than two hundred seals during his short reign, only five have been made in jade.
The 15th day of the 7th month of the third year of the reign, August 22, 1725 in our calendar, the eunuch commissions two white jade seals for the same inscription along with their boxes. Five days later a bronze prototype of the inscription is submitted to an inspection.
Both jade seals are completed in the next month, nine days apart one another. This great speed of execution is explained by the fact that the workshops had re-carved two ancient seals that the emperor himself had probably chosen in the imperial collection before issuing his order.
The smaller of the two seals, 5.5 x 5.6 cm, carved with a dragon in Yuan style, was sold for HK $ 35,4M including premium by Sotheby's on October 5, 2011.
The other seal, reworked from a Kangxi figure, is larger and more ambitious. 7.4 cm high on a square base 6.1 x 6.1 cm, it has the form of a rock on which a hornless dragon or chilong is reclining with a wide open mouth in a threatening attitude. The rock is flanked by eight other chi moving amidst clouds.
This seal is offered with its luxurious original box inlaid in ivory. It is estimated HK $ 30M for sale by Sotheby's in Hong Kong on April 7, lot 102.
Both seals discussed above are exceptional. Although Yongzheng has ordered more than two hundred seals during his short reign, only five have been made in jade.
#HK #AuctionUpdate: 9 bidders, 14 mins: Imperial White Jade Yongzheng Yubi Zhi Bao Seal sells for HK$104.9m/US$13.5m pic.twitter.com/5p8ODk7WrO
— Sotheby's (@Sothebys) April 7, 2015Yongzheng - An Archaic Dragon
2019 SOLD for RMB 147M including premium
From the 6th year of his reign matching 1728 CE, the Yongzheng emperor managed a direct control over the production of imperial porcelain. Under the supervision of Superintendent Tang Ying, most of the traditional techniques were restarted and quickly raised to a new level of perfection.
On June 5 in Beijing, Poly sells as lot 5552 a magnificent vase 51 cm high with a round body and a thick neck which is a technological feat without any relationship with the new enamel paintings brought by the foreigners.
This piece flawlessly combines an underglaze in cobalt blue and a red copper glaze which nevertheless required an extremely dissimilar firing profile. The recipe was lost very soon afterward and the Qianlong emperor himself will not get comparable porcelains despite his insistence with the same Superintendent.
The bright red dragon wraps its sinuous body in the blue clouds, in a contrast of superb brilliance. The blue is made in several shades, matching the quality of the Xuande porcelain of the Ming. The glaze becomes invisible over blue and white.
The wide open mouth and the bulging eyes of the dragon express a great fury. This mythical animal has only three claws per leg and cannot be confused with a Qing imperial dragon.
It is a copy of the dragons drawn under the Southern Song dynasty by Chen Rong, assessing Yongzheng's care to promote the best from Chinese graphic art of all times. Copies on silk in the same style were executed in the same period.
Let us remind that a drawing 35 x 440 cm scrolling six dragons executed by Chen Rong in 1244 CE was sold for $ 49M including premium by Christie's on March 15, 2017.
On June 5 in Beijing, Poly sells as lot 5552 a magnificent vase 51 cm high with a round body and a thick neck which is a technological feat without any relationship with the new enamel paintings brought by the foreigners.
This piece flawlessly combines an underglaze in cobalt blue and a red copper glaze which nevertheless required an extremely dissimilar firing profile. The recipe was lost very soon afterward and the Qianlong emperor himself will not get comparable porcelains despite his insistence with the same Superintendent.
The bright red dragon wraps its sinuous body in the blue clouds, in a contrast of superb brilliance. The blue is made in several shades, matching the quality of the Xuande porcelain of the Ming. The glaze becomes invisible over blue and white.
The wide open mouth and the bulging eyes of the dragon express a great fury. This mythical animal has only three claws per leg and cannot be confused with a Qing imperial dragon.
It is a copy of the dragons drawn under the Southern Song dynasty by Chen Rong, assessing Yongzheng's care to promote the best from Chinese graphic art of all times. Copies on silk in the same style were executed in the same period.
Let us remind that a drawing 35 x 440 cm scrolling six dragons executed by Chen Rong in 1244 CE was sold for $ 49M including premium by Christie's on March 15, 2017.
Yongzheng - An Amphora for the Qing
2017 SOLD for HK$ 140M including premium
The Manchus who overthrew the Ming dynasty are foreigners. When their Qing dynasty is politically stabilized, they are paying an intense attention to relying on the whole of the more than four-thousand-year-old tradition of the Chinese empire. From the reign of Kangxi some workshops in Jingdezhen realize porcelain pieces imitating the antique.
Jingdezhen's chemists and thermal engineers are highly skilled and there is no question of going back to the ancient manufacturing processes. A special effort is made to improve the green glaze imitating the color and transparency of jade, which is named qingci in Chinese and celadon in Europe. During the reign of Yongzheng several hues of celadon glaze are listed.
An amphora vase bearing the imperial mark of Yongzheng appears as a culmination of that development. It was sold for HK $ 17.4M including premium by Christie's in Hong Kong on November 1, 2004, a very high price at that time for a monochrome porcelain, and returns in the same venue on May 31, lot 2888.
The shape of this vase 52 cm high imitates vessels made of metal or porcelain in the Tang period, which are no longer amphorae of the antique type since the pointed lower end used to catch the vessel in its lower part for pouring the liquid has been replaced by a usual flat base for installation. He retains from these Tang models the two lateral handles in the shape of dragons biting the rim. The ornament of the neck simulating bamboo rings is a reference to the Northern Song.
Celadon is also an ancient symbol reminding the development of that glaze in the Longquan kilns under the Southern Song dynasty. The bluish-green glaze of this amphora, thick and translucent and leveled in the recesses, is indeed an achievement directly attributable to the engineering of the Qing.
Please watch the video shared by Christie's.
Jingdezhen's chemists and thermal engineers are highly skilled and there is no question of going back to the ancient manufacturing processes. A special effort is made to improve the green glaze imitating the color and transparency of jade, which is named qingci in Chinese and celadon in Europe. During the reign of Yongzheng several hues of celadon glaze are listed.
An amphora vase bearing the imperial mark of Yongzheng appears as a culmination of that development. It was sold for HK $ 17.4M including premium by Christie's in Hong Kong on November 1, 2004, a very high price at that time for a monochrome porcelain, and returns in the same venue on May 31, lot 2888.
The shape of this vase 52 cm high imitates vessels made of metal or porcelain in the Tang period, which are no longer amphorae of the antique type since the pointed lower end used to catch the vessel in its lower part for pouring the liquid has been replaced by a usual flat base for installation. He retains from these Tang models the two lateral handles in the shape of dragons biting the rim. The ornament of the neck simulating bamboo rings is a reference to the Northern Song.
Celadon is also an ancient symbol reminding the development of that glaze in the Longquan kilns under the Southern Song dynasty. The bluish-green glaze of this amphora, thick and translucent and leveled in the recesses, is indeed an achievement directly attributable to the engineering of the Qing.
Please watch the video shared by Christie's.
#AuctionUpdate This incredibly rare Yongzheng-period celadon-glazed amphora just sold for US$18,129,688 in HK https://t.co/7B1k4RqKrU pic.twitter.com/5GkAzM45fT
— Christie's (@ChristiesInc) May 31, 2017
Yongzheng Dragon Vase
2015 SOLD for HK$ 76M by Sotheby's
The porcelains from the early Qing dynasty were the subject of a successful effort to control all colors. Their great scientists have also extended the range of blue up to a very intense color through a purification of the cobalt.
The availability of all shades of blue restarted the fashion of the blue and white that had made the success of the Yuan and early Ming porcelains, using again traditional forms and themes along with interesting innovations.
On April 7, 2015, Sotheby's sold for HK $ 76M from a lower estimate of HK $ 40M a vase 39 cm high from the Yongzheng period, lot 108. It is an ovoid vase elegantly rising to a narrow tall neck, decorated in a brilliant deep blue with two imperial dragons in a dense surrounding of floral patterns.
The Yongzheng potters also made bottles of the moon flask type that had been one of the favorite porcelain shapes at the time of the Yongle emperor of the Ming. In that category an octagonal shape was a technical feat.
The availability of all shades of blue restarted the fashion of the blue and white that had made the success of the Yuan and early Ming porcelains, using again traditional forms and themes along with interesting innovations.
On April 7, 2015, Sotheby's sold for HK $ 76M from a lower estimate of HK $ 40M a vase 39 cm high from the Yongzheng period, lot 108. It is an ovoid vase elegantly rising to a narrow tall neck, decorated in a brilliant deep blue with two imperial dragons in a dense surrounding of floral patterns.
The Yongzheng potters also made bottles of the moon flask type that had been one of the favorite porcelain shapes at the time of the Yongle emperor of the Ming. In that category an octagonal shape was a technical feat.
Yongzheng Tianqiuping
2012 SOLD for $ 5.9M by Bonhams
A 53 cm high globular blue and white vase with a tall neck in the classical tianqiuping shape, 53 cm high, with the Yongzheng mark, was sold for $ 5.9M by Bonhams on December 10, 2012, lot 5255. This piece is decorated in a delicate light blue with a rich pattern of several varieties of blossoms with elegant spiraling tendrils.
It had belonged to the collection of US President Hoover.
It had belonged to the collection of US President Hoover.
Yongzheng - Nine Dragons in the Imperial Banquet
2012 SOLD 41 MHK$ including premium
On October 9 in Hong Kong, Sotheby's sells a large charger, 47 cm in diameter, estimated HK $ 30M. Such a ceremonial dish was intended to fill the table before meals are served in smaller plates. This piece bears the six-character mark of Yongzheng, the fifth Qing emperor.
Successor to Kangxi and predecessor of Qianlong, Yongzheng was like them an avid supporter of Chinese porcelains. The piece coming for sale, as almost always in China, is a synthesis of different traditions executed by a skilled craftsman.
The colors are classical : underglaze dark blue and bright iron red, and the model of the composition was known from the early Ming.
At the center of the medallion, a very strong red dragon is seen full frontal, levitating over a blue ocean of unleashed waves. On the front side, in the sloping edge of the plate, four red dragons soar in the blue clouds. A similar scene happens on the back edge.
Some of these secundary dragons have a lesser social status, which can not be detected in their size or in their attitude but in the number of claws and the shape of the tail. The readability of these symbols was certainly obvious to the guests of Yongzheng, 280 years ago.
Here is the link to the catalog.
Successor to Kangxi and predecessor of Qianlong, Yongzheng was like them an avid supporter of Chinese porcelains. The piece coming for sale, as almost always in China, is a synthesis of different traditions executed by a skilled craftsman.
The colors are classical : underglaze dark blue and bright iron red, and the model of the composition was known from the early Ming.
At the center of the medallion, a very strong red dragon is seen full frontal, levitating over a blue ocean of unleashed waves. On the front side, in the sloping edge of the plate, four red dragons soar in the blue clouds. A similar scene happens on the back edge.
Some of these secundary dragons have a lesser social status, which can not be detected in their size or in their attitude but in the number of claws and the shape of the tail. The readability of these symbols was certainly obvious to the guests of Yongzheng, 280 years ago.
Here is the link to the catalog.
