A copper red glazed stem bowl/cup, Qingdynasty, Yongzheng six character mark (1723-35).
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With deep, rounded sides flaring from above the pedestal foot to the rim, the exterior is covered with a glaze of crushed strawberry-red tone thinning above and below the ribbed band encircling the foot. Diameter 18.2 cm. Höjd 13 cm.
Slightly polished rim. Firing line near rim.
Provenance
From the Collection of Peder Hammarskjöld (1923-1994). Employed by the Swedish foreign ministry from 1949, and served in Bonn, Tokyo, Beijing, Stockholm, Geneva, Rome and Oslo. He was also Swedish United Nation representative in New York and ended his long diplomatic career as Swedish Ambassador in Dhaka, Bangladesh.
Mr Hammarskjöld belonged to the first Swedish representation in the People's Republic of China in the beginning of the 1950’s.
Sweden was the first Western country to establish diplomatic relations with the new China, the Swedish ambassador Torsten Hammarström, handed over his letter of credence on the 12th of June 1950 to Chairman Mao.
These stemcups was given by Mr Hammaskjöld to his sister in law as a gift. Thence by descent within the family.
Exhibitions
Compare; Another similar Yongzheng-marked copper-red-glazed stem bowl of the same size was sold at Christie's New York, 29 March 2006, lot 531.
Compare also; Lot 1554. Christies, March 21–22 2013, auction 2689, Fine Chinese Ceramics and Works of Art.
There are stemcups of this model but in blue at the Museum in Nanjing Museum, research, online catalogue. Dated as Yongzheng Reign, Qing Dynasty.
Literature
Compare a smaller copper red stem cup with Yongzheng mark at the Musee Guimet, Paris. G 3494 (+). Collection Ernest Grandidier.
More information
Rich and lustrously glazed copper-red monochrome porcelains were perfected during the Yongle and Xuande reigns in the Ming dynasty, but the large number of discarded sherds at the Jingdezhen kiln sites highlights the difficulties experienced by even the most highly accomplished imperial potters of that time to achieve satisfactory results. After the Xuande reign, the copper pigment was therefore almost completely abandoned, and monochrome copper-red vessels were only revived on a grand scale about two centuries later under the Qing Kangxi Emperor.
Also known as sang-de-boeuf (‘ox-blood’), the copper-red langyao glaze was developed under Lang Tingji (1663-1715), supervisor of the imperial kilns at Jingdezhen from 1705-1712, and the term is thought to derive from his name. Under his direction, the imperial potters attempted to recreate the lost formula of the early Ming period.
