A rare and exquisite pair of rose-pink enamelled cups, Marks and period of Yongzheng | 清雍正 胭脂水馬蹄盃一對 《大清雍正年製》款

Acquired from Edward T. Chow (1910-80) in the late 1960s.

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1960年代末購自仇焱之（1910-80年）

With their simple forms and subdued enamel, the present pair of cups is an archetypal realisation of the Yongzheng Emperor's aesthetic for understated refinement and the technical developments in ceramic production in the 18th century. Delicately potted, the cups are perfectly proportioned with gently flaring sides enamelled with an irresistible shade of peach-petal pink. By virtue of the influence of Jesuit technology, pink enamel of this type was developed in China in the final years of the Kangxi period, but very few early examples are known. It was not until the Yongzheng and Qianlong periods that the low-fired ruby-red enamel – which came in varying shades of pink – became a more prominent feature in the repertoire of Chinese ceramics.

Deceptively simple, producing such monochrome cups demanded the highest level of skill and meticulous precision, from potting to firing. The enamel colour was derived from colloidal gold combined with an admixture of opaque white lead arsenate. It entailed blowing carefully through a silk gauze-covered bamboo tube on the biscuit before its second firing at a lower temperature (approx. 800 °C), resulting in a mottled effect as seen on the present cups. 

A few cups of this form, colour, and size, yet bearing the reign marks of Kangxi, are recorded; examples from the Yongzheng period, however, appear to be extremely rare. A Kangxi pair is in the British Museum, no. 1945,1016.8-9, published in Shelagh J. Vainker, Chinese Pottery and Porcelain, London, 1991, pl. 158; a single one in the Baur Collection, Geneva, is illustrated in John Ayers, The Baur Collection Geneva: Chinese Ceramics, Geneva, 1968-74, vol. III, pl. A 482; and another cup, formerly in Mossette Levaur Keyzer-André and Meiyintang collections, was sold in these rooms, 9th October 2012, lot 1. For Yongzheng ruby-pink vessels of this form and size but further adorned in famille-rose with berries and seeds inside, see a pair of cups sold in these rooms, 6th April 2016, lot 3018.

Two larger bowls with everted rims, seemingly decorated in a creamy pink tone, are in the Grandidier Collection at Musée national des arts asiatiques-Guimet, Paris, nos G 1642 and G 2395. Compare another pair of Yongzheng ruby-pink cups decorated with lychee in famille-rose in this collection, lot 20. Many test pieces with blown-on ruby-red enamel from the Kangxi period are at present on view at the Palace Museum, Taipei, in the exhibition Story of an Artistic Style. The Imperial Porcelain with Painted Enamels.

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此對馬蹄盃形制簡雅，胭脂水凝素恬淡，映襯白瓷靜謐，宛如初雪桃蕾綻，嬌嫩可人，誠雍正皇帝高潔審美與十八世紀製瓷神技結合之典範。

康熙末年，隨西洋技法東漸，此類胭脂彩於中國得以精進，然早期範例實不多見。直至雍乾，低溫胭脂彩方始盛行，濃淡變化不一而足。

拉坯塑胎、赴窰成器，單色小盃看似簡易，實需精益求精之工、不失毫釐之技。胭脂彩以膠體金和不透明砷酸鉛為呈色劑，由工匠持竹管蒙紗蘸彩，吹於素胎表面，而後二次入窰，低溫（約800攝氏度）燒就，成色斑駁有韻，恰如此對。

著錄可見康熙年款例若干，形、色、尺寸皆與此對相近，雍正本朝例則極罕。大英博物館藏有康熙例一對，編號1945,1016.8-9，錄於 Shelagh J. Vainker，《Chinese Pottery and Porcelain》，倫敦，1991年，圖版158；另單見一例，日內瓦鮑爾收藏，錄於約翰．艾爾斯，《The Baur Collection Geneva: Chinese Ceramics》，日內瓦，1968-74年，卷3，圖版 A 482；及一例，原 Mossette Levaur Keyzer-André 及玫茵堂舊藏，後售於香港蘇富比2012年10月9日，編號1。雍正胭脂紅馬蹄盃且尺寸相近者可比一對，器內飾粉彩果實紋，售於香港蘇富比2016年4月6日，編號3018。

可比較撇口盌兩件，尺寸稍大，胭脂水略顯乳濁，Grandidier 寶蓄，現藏巴黎吉美博物館，館藏編號 G 1642 及 G 2395。本場一對胭脂紅內粉彩荔枝紋盃（拍品編號20）亦可資參考。再可參考多件康熙一朝試新之作，現展覽於台北故宮博物院《風格故事：琺瑯彩瓷特展》。