YONGZHENG MARK AND OF THE PERIOD 1723 – 1735 Chinese Taste Porcelain
A Yongzheng 1723-1735 Non-Imperial Mark and Period Master of the Rocks Style Porcelain Tray. Painted with a Shelter Near Gnarled Pine on the Rivers Edge and Further Pine and Mountains in the Distance.
SOLD
- Condition
- Repaired : a minute chip to the back with an associated crack c.15mm and another fine crack c.10mm. A small rim frit filled.
- Size
- Diameter : 26 cm (10 1/4 inches)
- Provenance
- N/A
- Stock number
- 24282
Photos
Information
This tray, probably for wine cups, is interesting for two reason. Trays of this type are nearly always attributed to the late 17th century. They all appear to be decorated in the Chinese taste with only a few painted in the Master of the Rocks style. With the non-imperial Yongzheng mark it clearly puts these dishes and therefore some Master of the Rocks painting into the 18th century.
The Master of the Rocks Style :
The phrase Master of the Rocks is unfamiliar to many Chinese, it is another invented category used by western scholars and collectors to pigeon-hole groups of Chinese ceramics, rather like Kraakware or Celadon. However unlike either of theseMaster of the Rocks first coined by Gerald Reitlinger, is a clear, distinct group. This style lasted from about 1645 to 1690. The highly distinctive painting style consists of landscapes with massive powerful mountains in a linier technique. The style is, for want of a better word, ‘painterly’ and often includes distant mountains painted with a very wet brush that contrast with the linier mountains in the mid ground. The style usually employs a technique of blobby dots, either in the landscape or as a border. These dots are painted with a wet brush and have no outline. These designs were certainly inspired by late Ming scroll painters like Wang Jinazhng (active c.1628 – 1644). The same use of brush strokes in contour like parallels lines can be seen. Mountains with jagged peaks are piled up creating a dramatic structure. But where as many of the scroll painters are known, the ceramics artists are anonymous.