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Sold Blue and White Kangxi Period 1662-1722
Tea, Coffee and Chocolate wares
Page 1
Around 1680, Emperor Kangxi (1662–1722) established his authority over all parts of China after a long period of civil strife. The porcelain factories in Jingdezhen that were demolished in 1675 resumed production and within a few years exports were booming. Chinese junks sailed to Batavia, bringing their porcelain to the market. From there, it was shipped to the Netherlands in VOC (Dutch East India Company, 1602–1799) vessels. However, private individuals bypassed the Company and also imported huge quantities of porcelain to Holland. In Europe, a change in dining habits and the introduction of tea and coffee created new demands. New varieties of Chinese export porcelain were produced, including all kinds of Western shapes. Porcelain, sometimes in miniature, was frequently used to decorate house interiors in Europe.
Much porcelain of this period is decorated in a clear, transparent underglaze blue. Popular decorations included the Buddhist lotus motif, a pheasant with long tail feathers on a rock amidst flowers, and the ‘Long Eliza’ with the 'Dancing Fool', the Dutch name for a Chinese lady and a small boy depicted in a garden.
Kangxi porcelain is very well made, with a thin body, a balanced shape and a smooth glaze without impurities. Cobalt blue oxide was subtly applied in varying degrees of saturation, suggesting depth and volume. The colour ranges from a silvery to a deep dark blue; in the best pieces the details and the craftsmanship are amazing. However, due to stricter controls by officials, the freedom and easy way of painting that was so characteristic of the preceding Transitional period now gave way to a more formal style with an emphasis on symmetry and centralism.
Sold Ceramics - Sold Blue and White Kangxi Period 1662-1722 - Tea, Coffee and Chocolate wares - Page 1
Object 2012269
Tea caddy
China
1700-1720
Height including cover 115 mm (4.53 inch), height excluding cover 107 mm (4.22 inch), dimensions 86 mm (3.39 inch) x 55 mm (2.17 inch), diameter of mouthrim 25 mm (0.98 inch), weight with cover 337 grams (11.89 ounce (oz.)), weight cover 20 grams (0.71 ounce (oz.))
Tea caddy of rectangular form with canted corners, a ribbed body on a flat unglazed base. On the flat top an unglazed cylindrical mouth with a lid fitting (original) cover. The tea-caddy with an underglaze brown-edged rim (jia mangkou). Decorated in underglaze blue. On the ribbed body and shoulder an overall decoration of flowering lotus buds and other flowering plants. On the sides of the cover flower sprays and on top a single flowering stem.
Condition: Some firing flaws to the base and glaze rough spots to the edges of the ribbing of the cover. The cover has been professionally restored after being broken in two.
Reference:
Price: Sold.
Sold Ceramics - Sold Blue and White Kangxi Period 1662-1722 - Tea, Coffee and Chocolate wares - Page 1
Object 201099G
Saucer
China
1700-1720
Height 19 mm (0.75 inch), diameter of rim 105 mm (4.13 inch), diameter of footring 60 mm (2.36 inch)
Saucer on footring, slightly everted rim. Decorated in underglaze blue with Zhongli Quan (Master of the Eight Immortals) and a spotted deer in a landscape with rocks, flowering trees, lingzhi, clouds and the sun. Around the rim a spiral pattern border. The reverse is undecorated.
Zhongli Quan, the Master of the Eight Immortals, used to be a general during the Han dynasty (206 BC-AD 220), but he eventually retired into the mountains and attained immortality. He is generally shown with a feather fan used to revive the dead (and sometimes holding a peach), an attribute which, according to the Daoists, is used as a magical instrument, able to give life and destroy evil. (Ströber, 2011, pp.150-153)
Condition: Two hairlines and three tiny fleabites to the rim, a frit to the footring.
Reference:
Price: Sold.
Sold Ceramics - Sold Blue and White Kangxi Period 1662-1722 - Tea, Coffee and Chocolate wares - Page 1
Object 2010307
Teapot
China
c.1700
Height 80 mm (3.94 inch), diameter handle to spout 113 mm (5.31 inch), diameter of foot 35 mm (1.77 inch)
A small hexagonal shaped teapot on a hexagonal foot. Curved spout, C-shaped handle. Decorated in underglaze blue with vertical panels filled with a figure sitting in a riverscape and flowering plants with an insect. Around the flat shoulder a zig-zag lines border and on the spout and handle a single flowering stem. On the cover a zig-zag lines border. The original lion-shaped knob has been replaced by an unmarked silver knob.
A similar teapot was sold, at Christie's Amsterdam sale AMS 2603, on November 4, 2003, object 145.
Condition: A restored cover and underside of the handle, a firing crack to the handle.
Reference:
Price: Sold.
Sold Ceramics - Sold Blue and White Kangxi Period 1662-1722 - Tea, Coffee and Chocolate wares - Page 1
Object 2010551
Teacup and saucer
China
1700-1720
Height of teacup 43 mm (1.69 inch), diameter of rim 65 mm (2.56 inch), diameter of footring 30 mm (1.18 inch)
Height of saucer 20 mm (0.79 inch), diameter of rim 115 mm (4.53 inch), diameter of footring 60 mm (2.36 inch)
Teacup and saucer on footrings. Moulded walls with scalloped rims. Decorated in underglaze blue in the centre of the saucer in a round shaped medallion with a figure on horseback riding though a rocky landscape, on the sides wide and small moulded, petal-shaped, panels filled with flowering plants alternating with a single stem. Round the rim a trellis pattern border with panels filled with herons. On the reverse wide and small moulded, petal-shaped, panels filled with riverscapes and stripes. The teacup is decorated en suite.
Condition teacup: Four tiny fleabites and a few tiny.
Condition saucer: A fleabite, a frit and a few < 1 mm (0.039 inch) spots on the rim, caused by popped bubbles of glaze during the firing process.
Price: Sold.
Not illustrated object 2010552, another identically shaped, sized and decorated, sold teacup and saucer.
Sold Ceramics - Sold Blue and White Kangxi Period 1662-1722 - Tea, Coffee and Chocolate wares - Page 1
Object 2011939
Covered jar (tea-caddy)
China
c.1700
Height with cover 93 mm (3.66 inch), height without cover 85 mm (3.35 inch), diameter: 67 mm (2.64 inch), diameter of mouthrim 30 mm (1.18 inch), diameter of footring 32 mm (1.26 inch), weight with cover 127 grams (4.48 ounce (oz.)), weight cover 15 grams (0.53 ounce (oz.))
Barrel shaped jar on footring with a domed cover. Decorated in underglaze blue with two 'Long Elizas' seated at a table playing 'Weiqi' in a fenced garden landscape. On the cover a dancing boy, his arms in the long sleeves of his garment.
Romance of the Western Chamber
The love story' Romance of the Western Chamber' (Xixiang ji) ranks among the most famous literary works of China. Its importance for young people can be compared to that of Shakespeare's 'Romeo and Juliet' in the West. 'Romance of the Western Chamber' was written by Wang Shifu (1260-1336). There already existed a short story in the Tang dynasty titled 'Biography of Yingying' (Yingying Zhuan) by Yuan Zhen (779-831), but Wang Shifu adapted it by adding details and giving it a happy rather than a sad ending. It tells the story of a forbidden love affair between the civil servant Zhang Sheng, who is gifted, but of a poor family background, and the pretty Cui Yingying, daughter of the Prime Minister. The two young people have their first encounter in a Buddhist temple, where Yingying and her mother have taken lodgings when accompanying the coffin of the recently deceased father back home. Suddenly, the temple is besieged by a local gang of outlaws, who demand the daughter to be handed over. Yingying's mother promises her daughter's hand in marriage to whoever saves the daughter from falling into the hands of the gang leader. However, when Zhang succeeds in doing so with the help of General Du, his childhood friend, she does not keep her promise. The young couple start a secret affair, supported by Hongniang ('Lady in Red'), Yingying's maid. When Yingying's mother discovers the affair, she consents to the marriage on the condition that Zhang passes the final examination for the highest position in the civil service of the capital, Zhang does so well, that he is granted a top position. (Suebsman 2019, p.43)
On this jar we see the two characters Yingying and Hongniang passing time playing Weiqi, a traditional strategic board game that in the West is better known by its Japanese name Go. In Imperial China it was played by the members of the educated elite. This underlines Yingying's social status. (Düsseldorf 2015, p. 218, cat. 123.3 & Suebsman 2019, p.47)
'Weiqi' or encircling chess is one of the oldest forms of chess. Chess (Weiqi or Go in Japan and the West) is one of the four arts in China. They are qin (the guqin, a stringed instrument. 琴), qi (the strategy game of Weiqi), 棋), shu (Chinese calligraphy 書) and hua (Chinese painting 畫). (Hartog 1990, p.72, cat. 59, wikipedia)
For identically shaped, sized and decorated covered jars, please see:
- Chinese ceramiek, catalogue Haags Gemeentemuseum, (B. Jansen, De Tijdstroom, Lochem, 1976), p.121, cat. 270.
- Interaction in Ceramics. Oriental porcelain and Delftware. (C.J.A. Jörg, Hong Kong, 1984), pp.158-159, cat. 111.
- 300 Treasures, (F. Suchomel, Academy of Arts, Architecture and Design in Prague, Prague, 1997), p.171, cat. 54.
For an identically shaped and sized covered jar decorated with two men playing 'Weiqi', please see:
The scene of 'Long Elizas' is characteristic of Kangxi export porcelain and was much copied in Delft. (Jörg 1984, p.158)
For an identically shaped, sized and decorated Delft copy, please see:
Condition: A firing flaw, fleabite, frit and two tiny short hairlines to the inner rim of the cover. Two shallow chips and a fleabite to the inner footring.
References:
Price: Sold.
Sold Ceramics - Sold Blue and White Kangxi Period 1662-1722 - Tea, Coffee and Chocolate wares - Page 1
Object 2010547
Saucer
China
1700-1720
Height 16 mm (0.63 inch), diameter of rim 91 mm (3.58 inch), diameter of footring 55 mm (2.17 inch)
Saucer on footring, slightly everted rim. Decorated in underglaze blue with a military man with his servant holding a fan. Both stand near a pine tree looking at a farmer pushing his cart filled with goods. On one side rockwork and on the other a pine tree with clouds and the sun. Around the rim a zig-zag lines pattern border. The reverse is undecorated.
The scene on this saucer illustrates an episode from the famous Xi Xiang Ji, a comedy play in eight books by Wang Shifu (c.1250-1300) generally translated as the 'The story of the Western Chamber'. The story goes as follows. The talented but improvised student Zhang Sheng meets the beautiful Cui Yingying while she is staying with her mother and a maid in a monastery. The mother opposes a marriage but, thanks to Hongniang, the maid, a secret affair develops. When the mother detects this, she is furious. The lover is sent to the capital to seek literary success and after a while returns triumphant to claim his bride. Episodes from this story are the source of many of the figural decorations on porcelain of the 17th and 18th centuries. (Jörg & Van Campen 1997, p.158, cat. 172)
The scene on this saucer illustrates an episode from book six in which Zhang takes his farewell of Yingying and her maid Hongniang in order to travel to the capital, where he will be taking his public service exams. That is the condition set by Yingying's mother for her consent to their marrying. Zhang's sedan-chair stands ready while his servant prepares the luggage (the pile of scholary books). (Jörg 2011/2, p.101, Scene 20)
Condition: Four tiny glaze fleabites and two glaze frits to the rim.
References:
Jörg & Van Campen 1997, p.158, cat. 172
Price: Sold.
Sold Ceramics - Sold Blue and White Kangxi Period 1662-1722 - Tea, Coffee and Chocolate wares - Page 1
Object 2010254
Teacup and saucer
China
1700-1710
Height of teacup 35 mm (1.37 inch), diameter of rim 50 mm (1.97 inch), diameter of footring 21 mm (0.83 inch)
Height of saucer 23 mm (0.91 inch), diameter of rim 87 mm (3.43 inch), diameter of footring 46 mm (1.81 inch)
Teacup and saucer on footrings with ribbed sides and lobed rims. Decorated in underglaze blue. In the centre of the saucer a flower spray in a central roundelircle, on the sides, three branches with pomegranates and insects in flight. Round the rim a zig-zag lines pattern border. On the reverse two flower sprays. The teacup is decorated en suite.
Condition teacup: Perfect, a tiny spot on the rim, caused by a popped bubble of glaze during the firing process.
Condition saucer: Perfect, a firing flaw to the inside of the footring.
Price: Sold.
Sold Ceramics - Sold Blue and White Kangxi Period 1662-1722 - Tea, Coffee and Chocolate wares - Page 1
Object 2010363
Saucer
China
1700-1720
Height 16 mm (0.63 inch), diameter of rim 83 mm (3.27 inch), diameter of footring 49 mm (1.93 inch)
Saucer on footring, slightly everted rim. Decorated in underglaze blue with two 'Long Eliza' figures, one seated and one standing, in a fenced garden with an almost naked "dancing little boy" or "zotje" holding a flower. On the rim a zig-zag lines border. The reverse is undecorated.
Condition: Four tiny hairlines and three tiny frits to the rim and a firing flaw to the reverse.
Price: Sold.
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