Sold Ceramics - Sold Powder Blue 1700-1725 - Page 1

Object 2011686

Dish

China

1720-1735

Height 51 mm (2.01 inch), diameter of rim 285 mm (11.22 inch), diameter of footring 161 mm (6.34 inch), weight 860 grams (30.34 ounce (oz.))

Dish on footring, straight underglaze brown-edged rim (jia mangkou). Covered with underglaze powder blue. Decorated with a central flowering lotus on the sides three flowering lotus alternating with panels filled with (rubbed off) dense leafy scrolls, round the rim a (rubbed off) laurel border with flower heads, all in overglaze gold. On the reverse rim a floral border with flowering lotus flanked by flower sprays and with reserves each filled with two flower sprays in underglaze blue and iron-red.

There is a special category within Kangxi blue and white, namely 'powder blue'. This name refers to a specific technique used to decorate porcelain. Cobalt blue oxide was not applied to the surface of the dried object with a brush but was blown onto it through a hollow pipe that was covered at the opposite end with a piece of gauze. Once the object had been glazed and fired the surface showed tiny dots and patches of blue that suggest depth and create an interesting texture. Before blowing the blue, panels and cartouches could be reserved by covering the surface with paper cutouts of the desired shape. The areas beneath these were still white after firing and were subsequently filled with underglaze blue or enamelled decorations, usually of the famille verte type, sometimes in iron red, showing birds, flowering plants, landscapes or figural scenes. Gold could be added in a third firing process but it has usually worn off by now. Powder blue rarely occurs any more after 1725. It was supplanted by 'Batavia Brown', an evenly applied underglaze brown colour with panels that were filled with decorations in the more modern famille rose enamels.

Condition: A hairline to the rim.

Reference:

Jörg & Van Campen 1997, cat. 148

Price: Sold.