A FINE AND RARE COPPER-RED AND UNDERGLAZE-BLUE WATERPOT, PINGGUOZUN MARK AND PERIOD OF KANGXI

of compressed globular form, elegantly potted with generous rounded sides rising from a concave base to an incurved mouthrim recessed into the shoulder, the exterior intricately painted in rich tones of raspberry red depicting four stylised full, round blooms of chrysanthemum, peony, lotus and hibiscus, each borne on a curved leafy spray and surrounded by stylised foliage, all below a narrow classic-scroll band, the incurved mouth encircled by a stylised lotus meander and the foot with triangular lappets, divided by underglaze-blue line borders, the base inscribed in underglaze blue with a six-character reign mark in three vertical columns

Ford, 1943.
Bluett & Sons Ltd, London, 1943 (£1:5:0)
Collection of Herschel V. Johnson (1894-1966), from 1943 (£30).
Sotheby's London, 21st February 1967, lot 92 (£520).
Bluett & Sons Ltd, London, 1967 (£520).
Collection of Roger Pilkington (1928-69), from 1967 (£520).

The waterpot is in overall fine condition.
"In response to your inquiry, we are pleased to provide you with a general report of the condition of the property described above. Since we are not professional conservators or restorers, we urge you to consult with a restorer or conservator of your choice who will be better able to provide a detailed, professional report. Prospective buyers should inspect each lot to satisfy themselves as to condition and must understand that any statement made by Sotheby's is merely a subjective, qualified opinion. Prospective buyers should also refer to any Important Notices regarding this sale, which are printed in the Sale Catalogue.
NOTWITHSTANDING THIS REPORT OR ANY DISCUSSIONS CONCERNING A LOT, ALL LOTS ARE OFFERED AND SOLD AS IS" IN ACCORDANCE WITH THE CONDITIONS OF BUSINESS PRINTED IN THE SALE CATALOGUE."

In his desire to revive the porcelain industry and to regain standards of quality that had long been lost, one of the Kangxi Emperor’s priorities appears to have been the recreation of designs and glazes in copper red, which were notoriously difficult to fire successfully and had been neglected since the outstanding achievements of the Xuande period (1426-35). Among the earliest pieces successfully produced during his reign were porcelains painted in underglaze-blue and copper-red, such as the present piece.

Early in his reign, the Kangxi Emperor employed the gifted painter, Liu Yuan (c. 1638-1685) for a decade from c. 1678 to 1688, to create porcelain designs. This approach of involving a designer was highly unusual at the time and resulted in a new departure for porcelain decoration. The finely pencilled lines of the four different flowers with extending scrolling leaves, for example, would seem to owe their elegant design to Liu Yuan’s influence.

Closely related waterpots are held in important museums and collections worldwide; see one in the Palace Museum, Beijing, illustrated in Kangxi. Yongzheng. Qianlong. Qing Porcelain from the Palace Museum Collection, Beijing, 1989, pl. 22; one in the Shanghai Museum, published in Underglaze Blue and Red. Elegant Decoration of Porcelain from Yuan, Ming and Qing, Hong Kong, 1993, pl. 118; another, from the Meiyintang collection, included in Regina Krahl, Chinese Ceramics from the Meiyintang Collection, vol. 2, London, 1994, pl. 733, where the author identifies the stylised flower sprays as peony, lotus, chrysanthemum and hibiscus; and a fourth waterpot from the collection of C.P. Lin, included in the exhibition Elegant Form and Harmonious Decoration, Percival David Foundation, London, 1992, cat. no. 113, previously sold in these rooms, 28th November 1979, lot 221, and illustrated in Sotheby’s Hong Kong, Twenty Years 1973-1993, Hong Kong, 1993, pl. 88. Further examples sold at auction include one from the collection of the Xuantong emperor (r. 1909-11), sold in our New York rooms, 16th April 1983, lot 488; and one from the Yuen family collection, sold in these rooms, 23rd October 2005, lot 352, and again at Christie’s Hong Kong, 27th November 2013, lot 3206.

Waterpots of this form were also produced covered in other glazes; see a peachbloom example, in the National Gallery of Art, Washington, illustrated in John Ayers, ‘The Peachbloom Wares of the Kangxi Period (1622-1722)’, Transactions of the Oriental Ceramic Society, vol. 64, 1999-2000, p. 47, fig. 33; and a clair-de-lune glazed waterpot in the Shanghai Museum, illustrated in Wang Qingzheng (ed.), Kangxi Porcelain Wares from the Shanghai Museum Collection, Hong Kong, 1989, pl. 240. 

Like the Chenghua ‘palace bowl’ in this collection, this vessel once belonged to Hershel V. Johnson (1894-1966); see lot 25 for a biographical note.