Sold Ceramics - Sold Encre de Chine 1725-1775 - Page 1

Object 2011375

Cup and saucer

China

1750-1770

Height of cup 63 mm (2,48 inch), diameter of rim 56 mm (2.20 inch), diameter of footring 30 mm (1.18 inch), weight 76 grams (2.68 ounce (oz.))

Height of saucer 23 mm (0.91 inch), diameter of rim 121 mm (4.76 inch), diameter of footring 75 mm (2.92 inch), weight 68 grams (2.40 ounce (oz.))

Cup and saucer on footrings, the saucer with a slightly flaring rim, the tall cup with handle. Decorated in encre de Chine, brown and gold with a lady is seated on rockwork under a pine tree conversing with another lady and child. Round the rims decorative borders in the style of Viennese Du Pacquier porcelain with floral scrolls alternating with shells.

The use of black enamel in imitation of drawings or prints was first developed at the end of the reign of the Kangxi emperor (1662-1722) and the Yongzheng reign (1723-1730). Chinese porcelains decorated in ink colour became popular in Europe around 1740, and until about 1790 continental clients continued to order them, especially for armorials, because the ink-colour process so readily duplicated the engraved bookplates supplied to the decorators as source materials. The technique may have been developed first for use on glass in the 1660s in Germany, where it was called schwarzlot. Eighteenth-century shipping records sometimes may have referenced it as pencilled ware because it was executed with a thin brush called a pencil. Albert Jacquemart dubbel it encre-de-Chine. Another name Jesuit ware was used still later due in part to the many examples of ceramics with religious motifs that incorporated this technique. En grisaille, another popular term used to refer to this technique, is inappropriate as it refers to works in various media in shades of gray and brown, and it does not convey the quality or technique evident in them. The Dutch terms were zwart geemailleerd or zwart goed (black-eneameled or black goods), and the state inventory of Johannes van Bergen van der Gijp (1713-1784) lists his porcelain as swarte kunst (black art). Works incorporating the reddish enamel known in China as zhucai (yellowish-red colour-or sepia often are grouped with ink-colour wares as well. (Sargent 2012, pp.333-334)

Condition cup: A glaze rough spot to the underside of the handle, three frits and a hairline (only visible on the inside) to the rim (two frits filled).

Condition saucer: Some popped bubbles of glaze to the rim, caused during the firing process, a firing flaw in the centre, a fleabite and frit to the rim.

Reference:

Sargent 2012, pp.333-334)

Price: Sold.