A DOUCAI 'DRAGON' BOWL AND COVER, YONGZHENG MARKS AND OF THE PERIOD

Expert’s note:
This bowl belongs to a group of porcelain wares discussed by Peter Y.K. Lam in ‘Lang Tinji (1663-1715) and the Porcelain of the Late Kangxi Period’, Transactions of the Oriental Ceramic Society, volume 68, 2002-2003, page 44-45, which he attributes to the early years of the Yongzheng reign on account of their rather unusual marks.

China, 1723-1735. The bowl of conical form with flared sides rising from an elongated straight foot to three notches around the rim, brightly enameled in the doucai palette and enhanced in underglaze-blue around the exterior with a yellow and a green five-clawed dragon chasing flaming pearls, leaping amid multi-colored clouds and flames, above a band of foam-specked swirling waves. The domed cover similarly decorated. The bowl and cover each with an underglaze-blue six-character mark da Qing Yongzheng nianzhi and of the period. (2)


Provenance
: From the collection of George Hathaway Taber, Jr., and thence by descent in the same family. George Hathaway Taber, Jr. (1859-1940) was a prolific collector of Chinese ceramics and jades with a discerning eye. He was the son of Captain George H. Taber (1808-1901), who rose from a humble background to serve as the President of the Fairhaven Bank. The younger Taber made his mark as a board member of the Gulf Oil Company. He built up an extraordinary collection of Chinese porcelain, which was loaned and partially gifted to a number of museums, including the Philbrook Museum, to form the core of their Chinese collection. Upon his death in 1940, the collection was split up between his descendants, and part of it was sold at Park Bernet Galleries, New York, 7-8 March 1946.

Condition
: Overall good condition, commensurate with age. Minor frits to rims, some with microscopic touch-ups. The bowl with a single hairline. The cover with a minuscule chip (approx. 3 x 5 mm) and an associated fill. Some wear, as expected. Displaying remarkably well.

Weight: 416 g and 295.8 g
Dimensions: Diameter 20.2 cm


Literature comparison:

Compare a closely related doucai bowl and cover in the Palace Museum collection, with a Yongzheng mark (to the bowl only) and of the period, 19.3 cm diameter, illustrated in The Complete Collection of Treasures in the Palace Museum, Porcelain in Polychrome in Contrasting Colors, vol. 38, Hong Kong, 1999, p. 251, no. 230.


Auction result comparison:

Type: Closely related
Auction: Sotheby’s London, 9 November 2016, lot 176
Price: GBP 106,250 or approx.
EUR 175,000
converted and adjusted for inflation at the time of writing
Description: A doucai ‘dragon’ bowl and cover Yongzheng mark and period
Expert remark: Compare the closely related form, doucai decoration with similar dragons, and Yongzheng reign mark. Note the 9 cm wide area of restoration to the rim of the cover and a circa 1 cm hairline crack next to this. Additionally, overpaint is visible to both the interior and exterior.




雍正款及年代斗彩龍紋蓋碗


中國，1723-1735 年。 碗敞口，淺圓腹，直圈足，和蓋子子母口。斗彩釉色明亮，外壁飾黃綠五爪龍雲中戲珠，下有波濤滾滾。圓頂蓋同樣裝飾。 碗及蓋各有青花六字款“大清雍正年製”款。(2)


專家注釋：
此碗屬於 Peter Y.K. 討論的《郎廷吉（1663-1715）與康熙晚期的瓷器》一組瓷器之中的一件，見《東方陶瓷學會會刊》，第68卷，2002-2003年，第44-45頁，他將其歸因於雍正早期的款識相當不尋常。


來源：
George Hathaway Taber, Jr.收藏，在同一家族保存。George Hathaway Taber, Jr.（1859-1940 年) 是一位中國陶瓷和玉器收藏家，具有敏銳的洞察力。他是George H. Taber 船長（1808-1901 年）的兒子，Taber出身卑微，後來擔任Fairhaven銀行行長。年輕的Taber作為海灣石油公司的董事會成員而嶄露頭角。他建立了非凡的中國瓷器收藏，這些瓷器被借出或部分贈送給包括Philbrook博物館在內的許多博物館，構成了他們中國收藏的核心。1940 年他去世後，這些藏品被他的後代分配，其中一部分於 1946 年 3 月 7 日至 8 日在紐約 Park Bernet 藝廊出售。

品相：
整體狀況良好，有輕微的熔塊，小修。碗上有一條沖線。蓋子上有一個微小的磕損（約 3 x 5 毫米）和填充。有些磨損。

重量：分別爲416 克與295.8克
尺寸：直徑 20.2 厘米


文獻比較：


比較一件非常相近的雍正款及年代斗彩碗，直徑19.3 釐米，見《故宮博物院文物珍品大系‧五彩‧斗彩》，卷38，香港，1999年，頁251，編號230。


拍賣結果比較：


形制：非常相近
拍賣：倫敦蘇富比，2016年11月9日，lot 176
價格：GBP 106,250（相當於今日
EUR 175,000
）
描述：清雍正闘彩雙龍趕珠紋蓋盌《大清雍正年製》款
專家評論：比較非常相近外形，斗彩龍紋和雍正款。請注意碗蓋邊緣9 釐米寬的修復 ，以及約1 釐米髮線裂痕。此外，內部和外部都可以看到覆蓋圖層。