A RARE LIME GREEN-GROUND FAMILLE-ROSE AND GILT-DECORATED IMPERIALLY INSCRIBED TEAPOT AND COVER

JIAQING SEAL MARK AND PERIOD

清嘉慶 淺綠地粉彩描金開光御製詩茶壺 《嘉慶丁已小春月之中澣》

「嘉」「慶」印

《大清嘉慶年製》款

the finely potted globular body supported on a short foot, set on one side with a short spout elegantly sweeping upward, opposed by an ear-shaped loop handle, brightly painted to the exterior with two cloud-shaped panels with gilt borders, each enclosing an imperial poem inscribed in iron-red, written in praise of good tea by the Jiaqing Emperor dated to the dingsi year corresponding to 1797, all reserved against a lime-green ground decorated with multi-coloured lotus flowers on a foliate scroll, the domed cover similarly decorated with lotus scrolls and surmounted by a bud-shaped finial painted with a chrysanthemum, the interior and base enamelled in turquoise, the base inscribed with a six-character seal mark in iron-red 

(2)

Width 20.5 cm, 8 1/16 in.

This brilliantly enamelled teapot is testament to the continued influence exerted by the Qianlong emperor (r. 1736-1796) at court after his abdication in 1796 and even after his death in 1799. Its form, composition and vivid lime-green ground follow the ornate style developed in the 18^th century and preferred by the emperor, while the inscribed poem was also composed by the emperor himself. Dated to the 10^th lunar month of 1797 and titled ‘Brewing Tea’, the poem is collected in the First Anthology of Imperial Poetry, and has been translated by S.W. Bushell as follows:

Finest tribute tea of the first picking

And a bright full moon prompt a line of verse

A lively fire glows in the bamboo stove,

The water is boiling in the stone griddle,

small bubbles rise like ears of fish or crab.

Of rare Ch’i-Ch’iang tea, rolled in tiny balls,

one cup is enough to lighten the head,

And dissipate the early winter chill.

(S.W. Bushell, Oriental Ceramic Art, London, 1981, p. 239).

In 1796 on the 60^th year of the reign, the Qianlong emperor abdicated the throne in an act of filial piety towards his father, the Kangxi emperor (r. 1662-1722), who had reigned 61 years. His fifteenth son, prince Aisin Gioro Yongyan, became the Jiaqing emperor, while Qianlong took the title Taishang Huang (Emperor Emeritus). Despite his abdication, Qianlong remained in his old quarters in the Forbidden City, from where he continued to assert influence and act as the de facto emperor. It was only in 1799, following Qianlong’s death, that Jiaqing finally gained complete control over state affairs. A highly educated and talented poet, Jiaqing was exemplary in his moral rectitude and his personality differed greatly from that of his father. During his reign he sought to administer the empire according to Confucian philosophy, and therefore advocated for diligence and frugality and filial piety. 

The art of tea drinking represented a shared passion for the Qianlong and Jiaqing emperors, as attested by the numerous poems they both composed on the subject. The imperial kilns at Jingdezhen produced significant amounts of teawares for the court, including teapots, cups and covered bowls, as well as trays. While the year after the death of Qianlong, the Jiaqing emperor decreed that porcelain teawares should no longer be inscribed with poems composed by his father, it is likely that they continued to be produced. An entry in the court archives from the 10^th year of the reign (corresponding to 1805), lists the order of five pairs of famille-rose teapots, with imperial poems in iron red that were to be presented at court and sent to the Yuanmingyuan (Garden of Perfect Brightness). While the entry does not specify which poem was to be inscribed, it is likely that it corresponds to the poem on this teapot. 

Teapots of this form and covered in this brilliant lime-green glaze are rare, and only one closely related example is known: a teapot in the National Palace Museum, Taipei (accession no. K1B015352N000000000PAF), included in the Museum’s exhibition The Far-Reaching Fragrance of Tea. The Art and Culture of Tea in Asia, Taipei, 2015, cat. no. I-71. These teapots would have been used together with a tray and cups or covered bowls, such as the lime green-ground tray inscribed with this poem in the National Palace Museum (accession no. K1B012502N000000000PAG), included ibid., cat. no. I-72; and a pair of green-ground covered bowls, sold in these rooms, 10^th November 2010, lot 297, and again in our Hong Kong rooms, 8^th April 2014, lot 3049.

The form and design of this teapot is also known covered in other colour grounds and painted in blue and white. See for example a yellow-ground teapot published in Geng Baocheng, Selection of Plates of Porcelain Wares collected by Jin Ming, 1994, p. 210; and a blue and white example in the National Palace Museum, Taipei, included in the Museum’s exhibition Lord Jiaqing and the Journey to Taiwan: A Cultural Exhibition of the Cultural Artefacts of the Qing Emperor Renzong, Taipei, 2016, cat. no. III-37.