A pair of lemon-yellow enamelled bowls, Marks and period of Yongzheng | 清雍正 檸檬黃釉盌一對 《大清雍正年製》款

An important European private collection, acquired from Edward T. Chow (1910-80) in the late 1960s.

Sotheby's Hong Kong, 4th November 1997, lot 1375.

重要歐洲私人收藏，於1960年代末購自仇焱之（1910-80年）

香港蘇富比1997年11月4日，編號1375

The Leshantang Collection of Chinese Porcelain, Taipei, 2005, pl. 38.

《樂山堂藏瓷》，台北，2005年，圖版38

Chinese Art from the Ching Wan Society Collections, Chang Foundation, Taipei, 1998, cat. no. 44.

《中華文物集粹：清翫雅集收藏展II》，鴻禧美術館，台北，1998年，編號44

Deceptively simple in form and colour, lemon-yellow enamelled vessels represent one of the most technically challenging porcelains to be produced. Monochrome wares of this type required absolute precision in potting, glazing and firing, as the smallest imperfection resulted in the destruction of the piece. Amongst all the different monochrome hues, yellow is the only colour with a direct imperial association. Although imperial yellow-glazed wares had been produced from the early Ming dynasty, they were used exclusively for ritual ceremonies; thus lemon-yellow vessels provided the court with an alternative for daily use. The yellow enamel was derived from an antimoniate oxide, and the lemon yellow was a Yongzheng innovation achieved when the antimoniate of iron was combined with tin oxide, resulting in an opaque yellow of brilliant hue.

Compare a pair of closely related bowls, from the collection of Mr and Mrs Eli Lilly, sold in our New York rooms, 3rd June 1993, lot 334; another pair from the Edward T. Chow collection, sold in these rooms, 25th November 1980, lot 101; a third, from the collection of W.F. van Heukelom, sold in our London rooms, 5th November 2014, lot 51; and another bowl, included in the Exhibition of Ancient Chinese Ceramics from the Collection of the Kau Chi Society of Chinese Art, Art Gallery, The Chinese University of Hong Kong, Hong Kong, 1981, cat. no. 138, and sold in our London rooms, 6th November 2019, lot 15.

檸檬黃釉器，形簡而色單，但燒製不易，胎、釉、火必精熟，方見成品，但有微瑕，則前功盡棄。黃釉者，宮廷獨斷，以鐵著色，始燒於明初，僅作禮器之用。至雍正一朝，以氧化銻入料，創檸檬黃釉，色澤純淨嬌嫩、均勻柔和，賞心悅目。

比較 Eli Lilly 伉儷舊藏對盌，售於紐約蘇富比1993年6月3日，編號334。仇焱之故藏且有一對，售於香港蘇富比1980年11月25日，編號101。W.F. van Heukelom 舊藏也有一對，售於倫敦蘇富比2014年11月5日，編號51。另有一盌，收入《求知雅集珍藏．中國古陶瓷展》，香港中文大學文物館，香港，1981年，編號138，2019年11月6日在倫敦蘇富比易手，編號15。