A fine and extremely rare ruby-red cup Mark and period of Yongzheng | 清雍正 胭脂紅釉小盃 《雍正年製》款

Sotheby's Hong Kong, 4th May 1994, lot 99.

The Leshantang Collection, Taipei.

Sotheby's Hong Kong, 11th April, 2008, lot 2502.

Sotheby’s Hong Kong, 7th April 2015, lot 117.

香港蘇富比1994年5月4日，編號99

樂山堂收藏，台北

香港蘇富比2008年4月11日，編號2502

香港蘇富比2015年4月7日，編號117

The Leshantang Collection of Chinese Porcelain, Taipei, 2005, cat. no. 41.

《樂山堂藏瓷》，台北，2005年，編號41

Yongzheng porcelain cups of this small size, inscribed with four-character reign marks which conform to the smaller area of the base, are extremely rare. Monochrome vessels of this type, deceptively simple in form and colour, represent one of the most technically challenging porcelains to be produced. They required absolute precision in potting, glazing and firing, as the smallest imperfection resulted in the destruction of the piece.

Ruby-red enamel, or 'Western red' in contemporaneous Chinese texts, was an imported pigment derived from gold. It was arguably the most special among the new foreign enamels, not only since it was dramatically different from all locally created colours, but also because it was derived from gold. The imperial workshops had apparently not yet mastered it even in the 6th year of Yongzheng when, under the guidance of Prince Yunxiang, brother of the Yongzheng Emperor (r. 1723-35), eighteen new enamel colours were reported to have been successfully produced there. To manage the ruby-red pigment, it is believed to have been blown through a gauze-covered tube onto the white porcelain before second firing, resulting in a delicately mottled red.

See a slightly larger ruby-red cup with an apocryphal Chenghua mark, in the National Palace Museum, Taipei, included in the Special Exhibition of Ch'eng-hua Porcelain, National Palace Museum, Taipei, 1976, cat. no. 155; and a pair sold at Christie's London, 14th July 1980, lot 286. Compare also shallower ruby-red cups with six-character Yongzheng marks, such as a pair published in The Tsui Museum of Art, Hong Kong, 1991, pl. 126; and another illustrated in Shoudu Bowuguan cangci xuan [Selected porcelain from the Capital Museum], Beijing, 1991, pl. 147, in the Capital Museum, Beijing.

For a lemon-yellow cup of identical size, sharing the same rare Yongzheng four-character reign mark, see the example sold twice in these rooms, 28th/29th November 1978, lot 135 and 7th April 2015, lot 116, and offered in this sale, lot 12.

雍正朝書四字年款小盃，極為珍罕少見，此類單色釉瓷，造型色彩雖簡樸，燒造製作上卻極具挑戰性，製胎、施釉及窰燒均須絕對精準，這樣精巧的器物上，即便是極小的瑕疵，也會於出窰時作廢不用。

胭脂紅乃是以黃金為著色劑的低溫釉，原屬舶來之技，唐英在《陶成紀事碑》中稱為「西洋紅色」，彩料珍罕，呈色濃淡多變。為求突破彩料供應受進口之局限，清宮對色料研製鍥而不捨，雍正六年（1728年）在怡親王允祥的監督下，提煉有成，得十八新色，紅彩卻仍未可得。正如雍正十年（1732年）《活計檔》記載上諭「用西洋大紅吹做」，欲製此彩之器，藝匠須以竹管蒙紗蘸彩，吹於器表，深淺斑駁，故近觀若花瓣片片，別有一番嬌媚。

台北故宮博物院藏一件尺寸稍大之胭脂紅盃，書成化仿款，展出於《成化瓷器特展》，台北，1976年，編號155。參考另一對瓷盃，售於倫敦佳士得1980年7月14日，編號286。並可比較一類盃身較淺，書六字雍正年款小盃，如一對盃例，刊於《徐氏藝術館》，香港，1991年，圖版126。還有一例藏於北京首都博物館，載於《首都博物館藏瓷選》，北京，1991年，圖版147。

可比較近似器形尺寸的檸檬黃釉小盃，同書四字雍正年款，兩度售於香港蘇富比，1978年11月28/29日，編號135及2015年4月7日，編號116，並收錄於本次拍賣，拍品編號12。