A rare Imperial inscribed blue and white 'tea poem' tea bowl

Jiaqing seal mark and of the period, dated dingsi year corresponding to 1797

Footnotes

清嘉慶 青花御製詩三清詩茶碗 青花「大清嘉慶年製」篆書款

Provenance:
A German private collection
Sotheby's Paris, 15 December 2011, lot 54

來源：
德國私人收藏
巴黎蘇富比，2011年12月15日，拍品編號54

This Imperial poem was composed by the Jiaqing Emperor in the tenth month of the second year of the Jiaqing's reign corresponding to 1797, and can be translated as follows:

'Fine tea is the first batch of leaves dedicated to the emperor,
the morning drink has to be the moon-shaped (compressed) tea cake.
Adding new fire to the bamboo stove,
it boils like rushing waves.
Tea leaves flutter like fish and crab eyes,
gathering like the shadows of banners and spears.
A bowl of tea clears the mind,
and keeps away the morning chills.'

Followed by the two seal characters 'Jia' and 'Qing'.

While the same poem also appears on other porcelain tea wares of the Jiaqing period such as teapots and tea trays, it is very rare to find a blue and white tea bowl such as the present lot. Compare, however, an iron-red-enamelled tea bowl of the same design, Jiaqing seal mark and of the period, in the Qing Court Collection, illustrated in The Complete Collection of Treasures of the Palace Museum: Miscellaneous Enamelled Porcelains Plain Tricoloured Porcelains, Shanghai, 2009, pl.32; and see another example in the Art Gallery of New South Wales, Sydney, museum no.337.2001.

In form and design the tea bowl is in direct continuation from the Qianlong period. During the first four years of the Jiaqing reign, the Jiaqing Emperor was emperor only in name as the Qianlong Emperor, who became a Taishang Huang (the Emperor Supreme), retained the ultimate power until his death in 1799. Therefore, porcelain wares inscribed with a cyclical date of dingsi year of the Jiaqing reign can be considered as a product of the late Qianlong period; see The Far-Reaching Fragrance of Tea: The Art and Culture of Tea in Asia, National Palace Museum, Taipei, 2015, p.174.

The combination of the pine tree, plum blossom and finger citron is known as sanqing (the Three Purities) and is the subject of a poem composed by the Qianlong Emperor in 1746 titled San Qing Cha (Three Purities' tea), which has been copied on tea bowls from which the emperor is said to have drunk sanqing tea. Similar to the present bowl, the Qianlong one is similarly decorated with the Imperial poem bordered by ruyi-heads, with the interior also painted with a medallion consisting of a pine tree, plum blossom and finger citron; see, the National Palace Museum, Taipei, ibid., pp.161-162, pl.I-66.

The Qianlong and Jiaqing Emperors shared a personal enjoyment of tea-drinking, a pleasure which they deemed worthwhile commenting upon and even more so, recording it when commissioning special tea wares decorated with this design. However, the Jiaqing Emperor's poem and tea wares of this design should also be seen in the light of his father's old age and the son's wish to capture a mutual, yet transient, shared delight.

A related pair of famille rose inscribed bowls and covers, Jiaqing dingsi cyclical date corresponding to 1797 and of the period, was sold at Christie's Hong Kong, 30 May 2012, lot 4001.

撇口，弧腹，圈足，外壁作御製詩「佳茗頭綱貢，澆詩月必團。竹爐添活火，石銚沸驚湍。魚蟹眼徐漂，旗槍影細攢。一甌清興足，春盎避輕寒。嘉慶丁巳（1797年）小春月之中澣御制。」鈐印「嘉」、「慶」。碗心繪佛手，松枝，梅花。內外口沿及底飾留白如意紋飾。

此嘉慶茶碗造型、尺寸、紋飾均與乾隆時期三清茶碗完全一致，唯御題詩為嘉慶皇帝丁巳年所作。嘉慶一朝所書詩文僅見於其他茶具，如茶壺或茶盤，御題詩文亦僅此一首，青花者，更未見著錄，目前僅見礬紅兩例，一例為北京故宮博物院清宮舊藏，《故宮博物院藏文物珍品大系：雜釉彩·素三彩》，上海，2009年，圖32；另一件藏於澳大利亞新南威爾斯美術館，館藏編號337.2001。

嘉慶二年（1797年）以前，乾隆皇帝為太上皇帝，猶控管宮中事務，因此嘉慶丁巳款器，亦可歸類為乾隆晚期類型，相關探討，見《芳茗遠播：亞洲茶文化》，國立故宮博物院，台北，2015年，頁174。嘉慶四年，太上皇乾隆晏駕，三清茶碗形制便因重華宮茶宴的停止而消失。相對於乾隆同類作品，本碗為嘉慶朝所作，更為稀少。乾隆一例，見台北國立故宮博物院藏，同著錄，頁161，圖版I-66。

乾隆皇酷愛三清茶，不僅作詩讚美三清茶，當朝所製同式三清茶碗即乾隆皇帝於避暑山莊「千尺雪」及「味甘書屋」茶舍的茶器，此類茶鍾為乾隆帝最鍾愛的樣式，因此嘉慶二年所燒製同式三清茶碗更有深遠意義。