Two Rare Chinese Famille Noire Cups and one Saucer

Each cup of hexagon form on a short foot decorated in the famille noire palette with shaped cartouches enclosing flowering prunus and a blossom against a glossy black ground, the interior with a flower spray, the base with a lozenge mark in underglaze blue, a Bluett label attached. Period: Kangxi (1662-1722). Height 7 cm (cup), Diameter 13 cm (saucer).

The black enamel created by first covering the entire vessel in translucent green enamel before reserving the design and adding fine details with black pigment. This colour combination originated in the Kangxi period (1662‑1722) as an extension of the famille-verte palette, where polychrome enamels are set against a white ground. By the Yongzheng (1723‑1735) and Qianlong (1736‑1795) reigns the technique was refined by layering the black glaze to produce a glossier opaque effect.

See the Oriental Ceramic Society 1963‑1964 exhibition, plate 54, no.148 property of Mrs Alfred Clark, for a similar example catalogued as: Bell-shaped cup with slightly fluted sides, decorated in famille verte enamels. The outside is enamelled on the biscuit with rocks and flowering prunus on a ground of black washed with transparent green. Inside sprays of flowers on a white ground. K’ang-hsi period. Mrs Alfred Clark

See E.Gorer and J.F. Blacker, Chinese Porcelain and Hardstones, vol.I, London, 1911, col. pl. 87 for similar cups and saucers.

There is a famille noire cup of the same form and similar design in the collection of the Metropolitan Museum, New York (Accession Number 50.221.19).

A meiping is illustrated in The Complete Collection of Treasures in the Palace Museum. Miscellaneous Enamelled Porcelains Plain Tricoloured Porcelains, Hong Kong, 2009, pl. 120. Also see on the whole process of making famille noire, Jorg Chinese Ceramics in the Collection of the Rijksmuseum, Amsterdam: The Ming and Qing Dynasties, Philip Wilson, 1997, page 196.

There is a comparable cup and saucer in the Victoria and Albert Museum, London, museum number C.1126&A-1910, Salting Bequest.

Condition: For condition report, please contact the department here.

Provenance: Chief engineer Holger Rosell (1917-2009).