A rare famille rose 'Tang Ying' 'landscape' cup

Qianlong

Footnotes

清乾隆 唐英製粉彩山水圖題詩雙耳方杯
「片月」、「陶」、「鑄」印

Provenance:
Sotheby's Hong Kong, 27 April 2003, lot 177
A distinguished Asian private collection

來源：
香港蘇富比，2003年4月27日，拍品編號177
重要亞洲私人收藏

The cup is inscribed on the reverse with a poem composed by the celebrated supervisor of the Imperial kilns in Jingdezhen, Tang Ying (1682-1756). The inscription is written in xingshu or cursive script and may be translated as follows:

In the depth of the water,
shadows of the clouds reflect each other.
The sound of the stream,
can be heard coming from beyond the village.

The poem is a version of a composition by the Song dynasty neo-Confucian philosopher Cheng Hao (1032-1085), also known as one of the 'Six Masters of Northern Song' for their philosophical contributions. In the third line, Tang Ying cleverly replaced the first character lin trees, with cun, villages or village houses to reflect the countryside scenery elegantly enamelled on the present cup.

The cup belongs to a very small group of Imperial quality porcelain which is associated with Tang Ying, the influential superintendent of the Imperial kilns between 1726-1756, serving both the Yongzheng and Qianlong Emperors. Considered to be the most innovative and talented figure in China's porcelain industry during the Qing dynasty, Tang Ying was also regarded as a competent potter, painter, calligrapher and art connoisseur. His experience and insight into the challenges of porcelain production allowed him to make essential changes in the structure of the factory and brought technical improvement and artistic innovation to the production, made to highly exacting standards.

The seal reading pianyue or 'crescent moon' on the upper right corner, followed by the poem, and the two iron-red seals reading tao zhu at the end of the poem were pseudonyms used by Tang Ying to sign his poetic inscriptions on porcelain; see Geng Baochang, 'Tan Tang Ying kuan de ciqi ji qita' (A discussion on Tang Ying marked porcelain), Jingdezhen taoci, Jingdezhen, 1982, no.2; and a further discussion by P.Y.K.Lam, 'Tang Ying (1682-1756): The Imperial Factory Superintendent at Jingdezhen', Transactions of the Oriental Ceramic Society, vol.63, 1998-1999, p.65.

For similar examples by Tang Ying with pianyue or tao zhu seal marks in public collections, see a celadon-glazed famille rose bamboo-shaped brush pot, Qianlong, in the Capital Museum, Beijing, illustrated by Geng Baochang, ming qing ciqi jianding, Hong Kong, 1993, p.291, no.497; and another brush pot decorated in sepia enamel, in the Art Museum of the Chinese University of Hong Kong, illustrated by P.Y.K.Lam, ibid., fig.5. Compare also a coral-ground famille rose 'Tang Ying' bowl, also unmarked and with iron-red pianyue and tao zhu seal marks, illustrated in Sotheby's Thirty Years in Hong Kong, Hong Kong, 2003, p.314, pl.355, which was sold at Christie's Hong Kong, 1 December 2009, lot 1921. Compare also the related landscape decoration on a lantern-shaped vase with an inscription by Tang Ying, early Qianlong period, illustrated by J.Thompson, The Alan Chuang Collection of Chinese Porcelain, Hong Kong, 2009, pp.236-239, no.101.

杯四方形，倭角，斜壁，圈足。杯身兩邊飾礬紅描金螭龍雙耳，外壁以粉彩繪通景碧水青山，山明水秀，北窗高臥，如世外桃源，一幅水木清華，悠然寧靜之景。杯另一面以墨彩書詩句：「水心雲影間相照，村下泉聲各自來」，詩首落款「片月」，詩尾落款「陶」、「鑄」。

此詩句原出宋代程顥《遊月陂》，程顥（1032—1085），字伯淳，人稱明道先生，原籍河南府（今河南洛陽），生於湖北黃陂縣。宋代大儒，理學家、教育家。作詩者巧妙將原詩中「林」字替換，作「村下泉聲各自來」，以呼應小杯所繪之青山流水人家之景，同時又與原詩對世事變化無常之淡然的表達不相衝突。

從紋飾及題詩風格，以及「片月」、「陶鑄」落款可知，此杯為雍正、乾隆年間督陶官唐英自製之器。唐氏除督理宮廷窯務之外，其本人亦攻書善畫，晚年在督陶之餘曾親自設計並將自己的詩書畫印描繪在陶坯上製成瓷器，此杯或為其中一例。

唐英本人精詩、書、陶三藝於一身，書法藝術尤以行書突出，上乘魏晉、漢、唐、宋之風，融入前人章法，行筆流暢，氣韻生動，形成自己風格。而其繪畫則遠師董其昌，亦說受王原祁影響，長於山水，拙中帶秀，清雋雅逸。有關唐英製瓷器的更多討論，可見耿寶昌，《談唐英款的瓷器及其他》，著錄於《景德鎮陶瓷》，景德鎮，1982年02期，以及林業強，〈Tang Ying (1682-1756). The Imperial Factory Superintendent at Jingdezhen〉，《東方陶瓷學會彙刊》，卷63，1988-89年，頁65。

鈐有「陶鑄」及「片月」款唐英製瓷之例，見北京首都博物館藏一件清乾隆冬青釉粉彩梅花唐英題句竹節式筆筒，詩末鈐有「陶鑄」印，著錄於耿寶昌，《明清瓷器鑑定》，香港，1993年，頁291，圖497；另見香港中文大學文物館藏一件清乾隆墨彩唐英題詩筆筒，載於林業強，同著錄之圖5。另見一件清乾隆二十年唐英製珊瑚紅地粉彩纏枝花卉開光題詩臥足碗，鈐「片月」、「陶鑄」及「翰墨」款，著錄於《香港蘇富比三十週年》，香港，2003年，頁314，圖355，後售於香港佳士得，2009年12月1日，拍品編號1921。與此杯畫工相類之唐英製瓷，見莊紹綏先生收藏唐英製燈籠瓶一例，見朱湯生著，《莊紹綏收藏中國瓷器》，香港，2009年，圖版101。