A very rare gold-enamelled bowl, Mark and Period of Yongzheng | 清雍正　金彩盌　《大清雍正年製》款

Collection of Alice Boney (1901-1988), New York, c. 1980s.

Elegance of The Qing Court: Reflections of a Dynasty Through Its Art, Joslyn Art Museum, Omaha, Nebraska, 1 March - 31 May 2008.

Fang Jing Wei, Wang Peihuan, and Judith Rutherford, Elegance of The Qing Court: Reflections of a Dynasty Through Its Art, Joslyn Art Museum, Omaha, Nebraska, 2008, p. 30, cat. no. 18

The present bowl, exquisitely coated in a rich and luminous gold enamel, exemplifies the refined Imperial taste and advanced craftsmanship achieved by the porcelain artisans of Jingdezhen during the Yongzheng period. Gold was considered one of the most auspicious metals, possessing an opulence that catered to the extravagant taste afforded by only the wealthy and powerful. It was also related to the Daoist concept of the golden elixir of immortality (literally 'gold cinnabar', jindan).

The meticulous technique of gold enamelling on porcelain during this period is documented in contemporary records, notably by Père d'Entrecolles in his correspondence of 1721, see See Yu Pei-chin, Obtaining Refined Enjoyment: The Qianlong Emperor's Taste in Ceramics, Taipei, 2012, pp.129-130. The process was further documented in the Qing dynasty text Nanyao biji. After application, the vessel would undergo a low-temperature firing to ensure the adhesion and brilliance of the gold surface. For further discussion of this process, see A Millennium of Monochromes: From the Great Tang to the High Qing, The Baur and the Zhuyuetang Collections, Geneva, 2019, pp. 165-166. Related Yongzheng period gilded examples illustrated in this publication include a polished gold-enamelled dish, ibid., p.328), a stem bowl and cover decorated in gold enamel bearing an impressed 'fu' mark, ibid., p.330, and an 18th-century pair of cups and saucer dishes similarly enamelled in gold ibid., p.333.

Comparable examples of related gold-enamelled porcelain include a gold-enamelled cup from the Sir Percival David Collection, now in the British Museum, London, published in Illustrated Catalogue of Ming and Qing Monochrome Wares, London, 1989, pl. B598, and a similar unmarked pair of bowls from the Meiyintang Collection, illustrated in Regina Krahl, Chinese Ceramics from the Meiyintang Collection, vol.2, London, 1994, pl.949.

Bowls of this type include a slightly smaller example sold in these rooms, 20th May 1987, lot 500; a pair sold twice in these rooms, 16th November 1988, lot 331, and again, 28th April 1992, lot 79. See also a pair sold at Bonhams Hong Kong, 12th October 2021, lot 386.

來源

愛麗絲龐耐（1901-1988年）收藏，紐約，約1980年代

出版

Fang Jing Wei, Wang Peihuan 及 Rutherford, 《Elegance of the Qing Court: Reflections of a Dynasty Through Its Art》，賈瑟琳藝術博物馆，奧馬哈，内布拉斯加州， 2008年，頁30，圖錄編號18

展覽

Elegance of the Qing Court: Reflections of a Dynasty Through Its Art，賈瑟琳藝術博物馆，奧馬哈，内布拉斯加州，2008年3月1日至5月31日

此盌通體以金彩妝飾，彰顯雍正朝御窯瓷藝之極致精妙，亦反映當時宮廷審美趣味之卓絕非凡及御窯匠師技藝之精湛。金者，自古即為至祥之金屬，雍容富貴，唯達官貴人方能享之；與道教所謂「金丹」之意義尤有淵源，蓋「金丹」者，道家追求長生不老之仙丹，亦稱「金液還丹」，因此金彩之用，亦隱寓辟邪延壽、得道成仙之吉祥意涵。

金彩色釉瓷器之燒造工藝尤為嚴謹精密，雍正年間法國耶穌會士殷弘緒（Père d'Entrecolles）於其1721年書信中，已詳述此製作過程，並載錄於余佩瑾《清高宗的陶瓷品味》一書中。清代《南窯筆記》亦載有金彩燒製之具體方法，即瓷胎施金彩後，須經由低溫再燒，方能使金彩附著堅固，光澤奪目。相關工藝細節，亦見於《千載霓霞：鮑氏東方藝術館及竹月堂藏唐至清一道釉》一書 。該書列舉之雍正金彩瓷例，包括金彩盤，見頁328，金彩「福」字暗花紋之高足蓋盌，見頁330，以及十八世紀之金彩杯盤一對，見頁333。

類似之金彩瓷尚見於倫敦大英博物館大維德爵士收藏中之一金彩杯，著錄於《Illustrated Catalogue of Ming and Qing Monochrome Wares》，倫敦，1989年，圖版B598；玫茵堂收藏亦有無款金彩盌一對，載於康蕊君《玫茵堂中國陶瓷》，卷二，倫敦，1994年，圖版949。類似拍賣之例，可見一件尺寸稍小之例，香港蘇富比1987年5月20日，拍品編號500；另有一對，於香港蘇富比1988年11月16日再售，拍品編號331，及1992年4月28日再售出，拍品編號79。此外，邦瀚斯香港於2021年10月12日亦售出一對類似之例，拍品編號386。