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Expert’s note
This dish belongs to a small and highly refined group of painted enamels on copper conceived in conscious emulation of contemporary famille rose porcelain. While this porcelain-inspired idiom was already established by the closing years of the Yongzheng reign, it was further developed and elaborated during the Qianlong period, when Canton enamel production reached its fullest technical and decorative expression. The richly articulated borders and densely composed floral decoration of the present dish are entirely consistent with this mature, mid-eighteenth-century phase.
From a technical perspective, the dish demonstrates the remarkable control associated with only the very finest eighteenth-century enamel production. The enamels are confidently applied and skillfully fired, achieving rich saturation while preserving the subtle tonal gradations that give the decoration depth and vitality. These qualities place the present dish within the refined tradition fostered by the exchange of craftsmen, materials, and designs between the Beijing Imperial Workshops in the north and the Canton enamel ateliers in the south, where imported techniques were transformed into objects of remarkable technical and aesthetic accomplishment.
Despite the exceptional quality of the present dish, it cannot be determined with absolute certainty whether it was produced in Canton or Beijing. Traditionally, however, works of such outstanding quality have generally been attributed to the Imperial Workshops in Beijing.
China. Finely painted in vivid polychrome enamels, the shallow dish with a central composition of flowering branches issuing from a rocky ground, including large blossoms of peony and chrysanthemum as well as smaller blooms including prunus and camellia, all borne on gnarled twisting stems further bearing furled leaves rendered in green and turquoise, and accompanied by two butterflies hovering above.
The central scene is encircled by a blue enameled band of floral scroll at the cavetto and a similar floral band against a yellow-ground interspersed with foliate cartouches enclosing auspicious fruits and flowers. The exterior is similarly decorated with a wide band of floral blossoms borne on leafy scrolling vines framed by narrower bands of scroll, the base with a central dragon roundel surrounded by four sinuous dragons against a bright yellow ground and encircled by a key-fret band.
Provenance: Collection of Yves Monceau du Bergendal and Raymonda Vaxelaire, and thence by descent. Yves du Monceau de Bergendal (1922-2013) was a Belgian count, businessman, and public figure from one of Belgium’s historic noble families. After serving during the Second World War with the Belgian forces, he pursued a distinguished career in industry, becoming a leading figure of the Belgian retail group GB-Inno-BM. Beyond his professional and civic achievements, du Monceau de Bergendal was a passionate collector of fine and decorative arts.
Condition: Very good condition with only minor wear and firing irregularities. Light surface scratches, minor rubbing to enamels, few fine hairlines (hardly visible to the naked eye), a small loss to the exterior below the rim with associated minor touchup, a minute bruise to the rim. The colors are exceptionally crisp and brilliant. An 18th-century painted enamel dish in such well-preserved condition must be considered extremely rare.
Weight: 605 g
Dimensions: Diameter 26 cm
The present dish is distinguished by the luminosity of its palette and the confident, painterly handling of its decoration. Against the spacious white ground, a large butterfly hovers above luxuriant sprays of peony, asters, and other blossoms, delicately outlined and shaded in tones of rose, turquoise, green, yellow, and iron-red. The central composition is enclosed by a deep-blue floral band and a broad yellow-ground border of dense foliate scroll, reserved with shaped panels containing fruiting and flowering branches. The contrast between the freely composed naturalistic scene and the richly patterned borders creates a surface of remarkable depth and visual animation. Its close formal and decorative affinity with contemporary famille rose porcelain exemplifies the fertile exchange of materials, techniques, and designs that shaped the finest Canton and Beijing enamel production of the Qianlong period.
Painting in enamels on copper is essentially a Western art that gained prominence in northern Europe during the Renaissance and flourished in China under the reign of the Qianlong emperor. Once the piece was shaped, the copper was prepared with a ground of plain enamel to receive the painting in glassy pigments which then bonded to it by firing. The resulting clear and brilliant contrast of colors, which allowed for ornate decoration, was particularly suited to the young Qianlong emperor's taste for the opulent and exotic. The technique was first introduced to Guangzhou by Jesuit missionaries who entered the port with samples of Limoges wares from Europe around 1700. It was then presented to the Palace Workshop between 1714 and 1716 by the enamel factories in Guangzhou, who supplied versatile artisans dedicated to developing and improving the standard of the imperial Enamel Workshop (see Yang Boda in the catalog to the exhibition Tributes from Guangzhou to the Qing Court, Art Gallery, The Chinese University of Hong Kong, Hong Kong, 1987, page 63).
Literature comparison:
Compare a closely related painted enamel dish, dated to the Yongzheng period, in the Guanfu Museum, Beijing. Compare a closely related painted enamel dish, dated to the Qianlong period, 16.2 cm diameter, in the Metropolitan Museum of Art, object number 24.80.394.
Auction result comparison:
Type: Related
Auction: Christie’s London, 6 November 2012, lot 15
Price: GBP 31,250 or approx. EUR 54,300 (for two) converted and adjusted for inflation at the time of writing
Description: A pair of famille rose painted enamel saucer dishes, Yongzheng enamelled four-character mark within a double-gourd and of the period (1723-1735)
Expert remark: Compare the closely related decoration and motifs. Note the smaller size (14 cm) and reign marks.
Auction result comparison:
Type: Related
Auction: Sotheby’s London, 1 November 2023, lot 171
Mid-Estimate: GBP 40,000 or approx. EUR 51,000 (for two) converted and adjusted for inflation at the time of writing
Description: A pair of Canton enamel ‘flower and birds' dishes, Qing dynasty, Yongzheng period
Expert remark: Compare the closely related form, decoration with similar enamels and motif. Note the size (21 cm) and ruby backs.
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