A fine and rare pair of coral-ground famille-verte 'floral' bowls Yuzhi marks and period of Yongzheng | 清雍正 珊瑚紅地五彩折枝花卉紋淺盌一對 《雍正御製》款

Christie's London, 26th November 1974, lot 196.

Collection of Barry Dinan.

Sotheby's Hong Kong, 22nd May 1979, lot 237.

Sotheby's Hong Kong, 26th October 1993, lot 144.

倫敦佳士得1974年11月26日，編號196

Barry Dinan 收藏

香港蘇富比1979年5月22日，編號237

香港蘇富比1993年10月26日，編號144

Hugh Moss, By Imperial Command, Hong Kong, 1976, pl. 78 (one bowl).

莫士撝，《御製》，香港，1976年，圖版78（其一）

A similar bowl in the Shanghai Museum is illustrated in Chugoku toji zenshu [Complete book of Chinese ceramics], vol. 21, Kyoto, 1981, pl. 105. One bowl painted in this famille-verte palette from the Maze Foundation is also illustrated in Hugh Moss, op. cit., pl. 77, together with a related enamelled example, pl. 79, from the Grandidier collection and now preserved in Musee Guimet, Paris (accession no. G762); another pair of bowls from the collection of the British Rail Pension Fund was sold in these rooms, 16th May 1989, lot 72, one of them subsequently illustrated in Sotheby's Hong Kong Twenty Years, Hong Kong, 1993, pl. 226.

Bowls of this pattern are also found with yellow flowerheads, such as the pair in the Chang Foundation illustrated in James Spencer, Selected Chinese Ceramics from Han to Qing Dynasties, Taipei, 1990, pl. 142, and another bowl in the National Palace Museum, Taipei, apparently with yellow flowers, was included in the Special Exhibition of Ch'ing Dynasty Painted Enamels, National Palace Museum, Taipei, 1979, cat. no. 35.

Reign marks with the wording yuzhi [made for the imperial use of…] following the reign name, rather than nianzhi [made in the years of…] are rare and suggest a closer relationship to the imperial court. Wares enamelled in the imperial workshops in the Forbidden City of Beijing rather than by the imperial kilns at Jingdezhen in Jiangxi bear such yuzhi marks, but in overglaze blue or pink enamel, since the plain white porcelains came from Jingdezhen fully glazed and fired. The significance of the underglaze-blue yuzhi mark, which would have been added at Jingdezhen, has been much discussed, particularly since identical bowls are also known with underglaze-blue nianzhi marks. It has been suggested that such bowls were enamelled in the Palace at Beijing, with only the mark inscribed at Jingdezhen before firing. However, it is likely that they were decorated in Jingdezhen as the style of enamelling differs from that decorated with blue and pink enamels. Hugh Moss, op. cit., p. 82, suggests that such bowls bearing the famille-verte palette were probably produced in Jingdezhen following porcelains painted in the Palace Workshops in Beijing. Until the craftsmen in Beijing became acquainted with the developments in famille-rose of the Palace Workshops they continued to work in the dominant style of the Kangxi period.

上海博物館藏一件類例，出版於《中國陶磁全集》，卷21，京都，1981年，圖版105。另可參考 Maze Foundation 舊藏盌，同樣收入莫士撝《御製》，圖版77，同書並載 Grandidier 典藏盌，圖版79，添施粉彩，現屬巴黎吉美國立亞洲藝術博物館（藏品編號G762）；英國鐵路基金會收藏一對，售於香港蘇富比1989年5月16日，編號72，其一刊錄於《香港蘇富比二十週年》，香港，1993年，圖版226。 

珊瑚紅地五彩盌者，亦有施黃彩牡丹，如鴻禧美術館藏一對，載於史彬士，《中國歷代陶瓷選集》，台北，1990年，圖版142；台北故宮藏一件黃彩牡丹例，見《清代畫琺瑯特展目錄》，台北，1979年，編號35。

有別於「年製」款，書「御製」年款瓷珍罕，應為內宮用器。景德鎮御窰燒製白釉無款素盌，直送紫禁城造辦處加彩複燒，器底多書「御製」藍料或紅料款。至於青花年款，理應於景德鎮燒造前書寫，又因書青花「御製」、「年製」字之盌例並見，備受學者討論，一說其紋飾乃宮中處加繪，然其紋飾風格與藍料及紅料款例相異，見莫士撝，前述出處，頁82，筆者論及此類釉彩謹遵傳統五彩瓷，認為宮造洋彩瓷尚未臻備之際，造辦處瓷作匠師以康熙瓷為範，傚仿內宮御瓷。