Potted, with deep rounded sides rising from a short foot to an everted rim, delicately reverse-decorated in a rich iron-red enamel with a row of peony heads alternating with smaller lotus above a row of lotus blossoms, all borne on interlocked foliate scrolls reserved in white against the opaque coral ground, the interior left undecorated, the white base inscribed in underglaze blue with a six-character seal mark. Diameter 13 cm.
Insignificant wear.
From the Collection of Dentist Inga Körner Johnsson (1909 -1993), thence by descent.
Porcelain wares decorated with ‘negative’ reverse designs on an iron-red ground are the product of the creative genius of Tang Ying (1682-1756), Superintendent of the Imperial kilns during the Yongzheng and early Qianlong periods. A bondservant of the Plain White Banner, who had served at the court from the age of 16, Tang is credited with the introduction of novel techniques and designs. Luxuriant floral scrolls against an iron-red ground first appeared on Yongzheng mark and period boxes, but with additional butterflies, such as one in the Palace Museum, Beijing, illustrated in Kangxi, Yongzheng, Qianlong. Qing Porcelain from the Palace Museum Collection, Hong Kong, 1989, pl. 70; one from the Sir Percival David collection and now in the British Museum, London, published in Margaret Medley, Illustrated Catalogue of Ming Polychrome Wares, London, 1978, pl. 163.