Dr. Robert I-San Lin's Collection of Important Chinese Artworks
Extremely rare Yongzheng cowpea red glaze lotus-shaped bowl. This bowl has a thin, white and very fine clay body. It is quite heavy for its size. These are characteristics of Kangxi and Yongzheng imperial porcelains. This bowl has a lovely shape of a fully blossoming lotus flower, with color changing from intense red patches in the center to pale pink on the outer part of the petals. Yongzheng mark in underglaze blue is at the center of the outer base. The mark's cobalt pigment is pure blue and appears to sink to the bottom of the glaze that has a pale greenish tinge; these are characteristics of late Kangxi - early Yongzheng cobalt blue imperial marks. The pale greenish glaze has small and uniformly sized bubbles of about 30 to 60 microns in diameter; the bubbles appear densely distributed under 25x magnification, typical for the imperial glaze from mid Kangxi through Yongzheng to mid Qianlong period. The foot is well cut, with the tip of the rim polished into curve surface before firing, which is also burnt into very light orange-red color, so-called "kiln red". Kiln red is formed naturally during firing and appears on many Yongzheng and earlier porcelains, but is absent after mid Qianlong. Later imitations are devoid of all or part of these characteristics of the glaze and the foot. The twin body-glaze interface lines near the foot rim tip are well cut, having clearly defined sharp edges, one at the intersection of the inner foot wall glaze and the biscuit body, the other on the outer foot wall. These are also typical features of late Kangxi and Yongzheng imperial porcelains. The pigment used to color peach bloom glaze is a copper compound, which forms red color of various shades when fired under primarily anaerobic reducing flames. Peach blooms are very difficult to make, and successful peach bloom porcelains are rare, mostly small items for the imperial court's scholarly desks. Chinese and American collectors treasure peach blooms because the pinkish red color is mellow and its surface is very delicate. Poor quality ones were mostly later imitations, with blackish red, grey, or grayish green, which were also called donkey's liver or horse's lung in China. As early as the beginning of twentieth century, British Museum expert R.L. Hobson stated "American collectors have been enamoured of it, and as they have never hesitated to pay vast sums for good specimens, most of the fine peach blooms have found their way to the United States, and choice examples are rare in England." After early Yongzheng, the imperial factory failed in making peach blooms consistently, and most of items intended for peach bloom have either too intense red like Zhi Hong (sacrificial red) or having too much grey or green. Furthermore the very delicate surface of peach blooms was not duplicated. That was the end of the golden era of peach bloom. H 5.7 cm; dia 19.3 cm.
(Collection of Dr. Robert I-San Lin of California)
極稀有的清雍正豇豆紅釉蓮花形碗。此碗胎薄、白、極細潤、密度高，碗雖不大、但提起時有沈重感，為康熙及雍正瓷胎的特徵之一。此碗如一朵盛開的紅蓮花。甚可愛。豇豆紅釉雅淡宜人。近碗心處紅色較𤂑、近於郎窯紅、有數奌微帶綠色苔奌。週邊的色較淡、紅色嬌潤、古稱"桃花片" 或"娃娃臉"。外底釉帶青色、25倍放大見釉中氣泡小、徑約30到60微米、泡的密度大、這些釉的特徵為康熙晚年到乾隆早年的典型釉特徵。修足工整、足端稍滾圓、呈所謂泥鰍背狀。近足端兩條內外胎釉界線切得很平整利落、這些都康熙晚年及雍官窯瓷的特徵。外底心書"大清雍正年製"青花二行楷款、青花正藍低沈不飄浮、為部份康熙晚年及雍正官窯青花的典型、與晚清民國仿雍乾瓷的漂浮鮮艷青料明顯不同。髙5.7cm、口徑19.3cm。豇豆紅是康熈晚年名貴的品種、以銅料在缺氧還原情況下燒成紅色。因窯燒時成色控制甚難、產品較少、多為小件宮中文房用具。市上偶見次貨、呈色灰暗、或帶黑斑、俗稱馿肝馬肺。康熙以後豇豆紅更少見、如鳳毛麟角。此碗是極稀有的雍正早年豇豆紅瓷，此後豇豆紅瓷多燒成祭紅或其他紅釉色，不再被稱為豇豆紅、豇豆紅基本上斷絕。彌足珍貴。（美國加州林亦森博士珍藏，1960年代由台北帶來美國）