A fine and rare black-ground green-enamelled dish, Mark and period of Yongzheng | 清雍正 墨地綠彩花鳥圖盤 《大清雍正年製》款

An English private collection.

Littleton & Hennessy Asian Art, London, 2006.

Sotheby's Hong Kong, 6th April 2015, lot 3110.

英國私人收藏

Littleton & Hennessy Asian Art，倫敦，2006年

香港蘇富比2015年4月6日，編號3110

Littleton & Hennessy Asian Art, London, 2006, cat. no. 15 and front cover.

Littleton & Hennessy Asian Art， 倫敦，2006年，編號15及封面

This striking dish, with its vibrant green silhouette-like design against a glossy black ground, belongs to a small group of green and black wares produced during the Yongzheng period. The technique has its origins in Kangxi wares, traditionally classified as famille-noire which was an extension of famille-verte decoration on which the enamels were set against a black ground. These green and black wares were created by covering the overall dish in translucent green enamel before reserving the design and adding fine details with black pigment. By the Yongzheng period, this technique had become more refined through a finer porcelain body and layering the black to produce the glossy opaque effect as seen on the present dish. Few examples of these wares exist due to the difficulty in production.

A closely related dish, and possibly the pair to the present piece, was sold at Christie's London, 9th November 2004, lot 179. Further dishes belonging to this set include a pair, decorated with a flowering prunus branch extending across the interior and a lotus meander supporting the bajixiang on the exterior, sold in these rooms, 23rd May 1975, lot 164; and another pair, from the collection of Stephen Junkunc III, sold at Christie's New York, 21st September 2000, lot 400, now in the Wang Xing Lou collection, included in the exhibition Imperial Perfection. The Palace Porcelain of Three Chinese Emperors, The Minneapolis Institute of Arts, Minneapolis, 2004, cat. no. 32. A slightly larger pair of dishes depicting insects crawling amongst peony and chrysanthemum branches was sold in our London rooms, 6th July 1971, lot 230, and again at Christie's London, 6th November 2007, lot 180. Compare also a similarly decorated dish, but decorated with a central panel depicting a bird amongst flowers and surrounded by a flower scroll, published in John Ayers, Chinese Ceramics in the Baur Collection, vol. 2, Geneva, 1999, pl. 206.

For a Kangxi mark and period prototype, see a brush washer, from the collections of J.M. Hu and Gerald M. Greenwald, sold twice at Christie's Hong Kong, 30th October 1995, lot 721, and 1st December 2010, lot 2814. This technique continued under the Qianlong emperor; see a large dish painted with birds and butterflies amongst trees within a more complex design of the bajixiang and lotus meander, sold at Christie's London, 5th June 1995, lot 210, and again in these rooms, 10th April 2006, lot 1520.

此盤墨地上飾翠綠花鳥紋飾，靜穆俊秀，相互輝映，為雍正御窰燒製的名貴品種。墨地綠彩源自康熙，屬於素三彩範疇，以墨彩為地。製造時先塗綠釉，再施墨彩。時至雍正，如此器胎體更為精細，釉色更添瑩潤。因燒時成品困難，傳世墨地綠彩器寥若晨星。

一例售倫敦佳士得2004年11月1日，編號179，與此器可能原為一對。一對飾過枝梅八吉祥盤售香港蘇富比1975年5月23日，編號164。另一對源自史蒂芬・瓊肯三世收藏，售紐約佳士得2000年9月21日，編號400，現為望星樓所收藏，曾展於《清三代官窰瓷器展》，明尼阿波利斯，2004年，編號32。一較大飾花卉草蟲紋售倫敦佳士得2007年11月6日，編號180。可作比較一例，開光內飾花鳥紋為鮑爾收藏，見約翰．艾爾斯，《Chinese Ceramics in the Baur Collection》，卷2，日內瓦，1999年，圖版206。

胡惠春及 Gerald M. Greenwald 藏典型康熙墨地綠彩筆筒，曾兩售香港佳士得，1995年10月30日，編號721及2010年12月1日，編號2814。墨地綠彩於乾隆朝繼續延燒，一較大繪八吉祥花鳥紋例售倫敦佳士得1995年6月5日，編號210，再次售香港蘇富比2006年4月10日，編號1520。