A exceptionally rare Imperial revolving pale-green-glazed bowl on gilt and silver teadust-glazed stand

Qianlong seal mark and of the period

Qianlong seal mark and of the period
The bowl with gently curving shallow sides rising to a slightly everted rim, applied around the exterior with loop-handles, the exterior moulded with upright plantain leaves around the base and chrysanthemum florets between the handles, covered in a pale green glaze, the rim and handles gilt, the bowl supported and fitted onto a five-legged stand with shaped aprons, covered with a green teadust glaze and gilt with scrolling acanthus leaves. 17.5cm (6 7/8in) wide.

清乾隆 青釉描金連茶葉末釉座轉足盌

Provenance: a Scottish private collection

來源：蘇格蘭私人收藏

The present lot is extremely rare and only one other identical example, with a cover, in the Shanghai Museum and probably the pair to this lot, has been published; see Chen Xiejun, Shanghai Museum, Hong Kong, 2007, p.102, no.128. Few other related examples appear to have been published. The present lot not only displays supreme technical virtuosity, but encapsulates the Qianlong Emperor's drive for innovative and playful designs.

The most unusual and rare feature of the present lot is its revolving technique. This represents the most difficult aspect to the potter, as the master potters would have had to create two interlocking pieces with different glazes that would still freely and accurately move after firing in the kiln. By the Song dynasty, if not earlier, it was customary to display some ceramic vessels on lacquer or porcelain stands to elevate them and set them above the mundane. In the twelfth and thirteenth centuries some vases were made with non-detachable ceramic stands, which provided a model for this Court porcelain. The daring combination of a pale celadon glaze for the bowl with gilt and teadust stand reflects the two sides of Qing Imperial taste: revival of Song dynasty elegance and Qianlong period flamboyance and technical perfection.

Although the Qianlong Emperor commissioned and pushed for these innovative pieces, this revolving bowl represents a new and creative type of ware designed specifically by Tang Ying, Director General of the Imperial Kiln. Tang Ying served at the Imperial Kiln for over twenty-eight years under the Yongzheng and Qianlong reigns, and his tenure was noted for some of the finest porcelain produced during the Qing dynasty. According to the Qing Court archives, however, in the sixth year of the Qianlong reign (corresponding to 1741), the Qianlong Emperor criticised him and his wares in the following memorial (《遵旨敬谨办理陶务折》) :

'The wares produced over the past years are far inferior to those produced during the Yongzheng period'.

To please the Emperor, Tang Ying created some of the most ingenious and original designs of porcelain, including those with a revolving mechanism. In his memorial in the eighth year of the Qianlong reign (corresponding to 1743), Tang Ying proudly proclaimed 'nine new and creative types [of porcelain]':

今自三月初二日開工之後，奴才在廠儹造得奉發各色錦地四團山水膳碗、盃盤，並六方青龍花瓶等件外，奴才又新擬得夾層玲瓏交泰等瓶共九種，謹恭摺送京呈進。其新擬各種，係奴才愚昧之見，自行創造，恐未合式，且工料不無過費，故未敢多造。伏祈皇上教導改正，以便欽遵，再行成對燒造。餘外尚有新擬瓷器數種，亦係奴才自行擬造，已與催總老格詳細講究，囑其如式辦理，俟得時隨後呈進。奴才於四月十四日自廠回關，八月內當再赴窯廠，另容料理新樣呈進。

which may be translated as:

'Today since the start of work on the second day of the third month, your humble servant has made four landscape bowls, cups and plates, and a six-sided green dragon vase in the factory. A total of nine kinds of bottle vases are newly proposed, including the exquisite reticulated double-layer vase and other vases. I just fear that they are not suitable, and the labour and materials are not without excessive costs, so they dare not make more at the kiln. I humbly ask for your Majesty's opinions, so that they could be followed, and then fired in pairs. Moreover, there are also several new types which have been made based on my own ideas. They have been discussed in detail with the chief potter. They will be submitted later when they are available. Your humble servant returned from the factory on April 14 and went to the kiln again in August to allow new dishes to be presented.'

The Workshop Archives of the Zaobanchu on the eighth year of the Qianlong reign (1743) also mention a 'revolving bowl in powder-green glaze with stand' (冬青有座轉旋靶碗一件) which was incorporated into the Imperial collection. Some scholars have argued that this refers to a revolving bowl in the National Palace Museum, Taipei, illustrated in Stunning Decorative Porcelains from the Ch'ien-lung Reign, Taipei, 2008, p.187, no.63.

See a famille rose stem bowl with attached celadon-glazed stand, Qianlong seal mark and of the period, in the Smithsonian, Washington, illustrated by Yang Enlin, Chinesische Porzellanmalerei im 17 und 18 Jahrhundert, Munich, 1986, no.81. See also a celadon-glazed bowl with attached revolving famille rose stand, Qianlong seal mark and of the period, illustrated by A.Hougron, La Ceramique Chinoise Ancienn, Paris, 2015, p.260.