Chinese export porcelain goblet on a tall stem, ribbed body, decorated in underglaze cobalt blue (qinghua), Kangxi reign.

Very rare Chinese export porcelain goblet on a tall stem, ribbed and moulded body, decorated in underglaze cobalt blue (qinghua) with dense flower pattern, base with the Artemisia leaf mark also in under- glaze cobalt blue, c.1690, Kangxi reign, Qing dynasty, h. 15,5 cm, 6 1/8 in. 1.13204

Illustrated: 100 Years of Chinese Export Porcelain, by A. Varela Santos, 2014/2015, cat. 26.

Literature:

• Seventeenth Century Chinese Porcelain from the Butler Family Collection, by M. Butler, M. Medley and S. Little, fig. 129 for an earlier goblet;

• China Trade Porcelain: Patterns of Exchange, by C. le Corbeiller, New York 1974, p. 30, cat. 11 for a similar one.

◆ This is one of the earliest examples of a European form made in Chinese porcelain
for the European market. The decoration of European armorials in Chinese porcelain started in about 1520’s with the arrival of the Portuguese, the first Europeans who managed the direct seaway to the fabled Cathay described in Marco Polo’s Journeys. For a more detailed study in this area read PORTUGAL IN PORCELAIN FROM CHINA: 500 years of trade, by A. Varela Santos, volume I.

The chalice was possibly ordered by the Jesuits, residents in Macau since the 1540’s, when the provincial government of Guangdong authorized the Portuguese to settle there as compensation for their help in fighting off the pirates that infested the coast and plundered the cities and villages. At the time China had no war navy.

The chalice, copied from a European metal form, was possibly used at the Catholic Mass.

十分罕見的中國外銷瓷青花高足杯, 杯身有棱并模壓, 繪有繁密花卉紋, 底落青花艾葉款, 約1690 年, 清康熙, 高15.5 釐米, 6 1/8 英吋。

插图: 《百年中国外销瓷》 阿.瓦瑞拉.桑托斯, 2014/2015, 目录 26。

參考文獻:

• 《巴特勒家族收藏的七世紀中國瓷器》, 作者 M. Butler, M. Medley and S. Little, 參見图129一隻更 早的高足杯；

•《中國貿易瓷器：式樣的交換》，作者C. le Corbeiller，1974年紐約出版，參加第30頁，編號11一 近器。

◆ 這是為歐洲市場燒造的中國瓷器中最早的歐洲器型之一。葡萄牙人是馬可波羅遊記中描述的最早能夠通過海路直達寓言國度中國的人, 伴隨著他們的到來, 十六世紀二十年代, 中國瓷器中開始出現歐洲人族徽的紋飾。有關這一領域更加詳盡的論述, 請參考阿.瓦瑞拉.桑托斯所著《中國瓷器里的葡萄牙: 五百年貿易》第一卷。此聖餐杯可能由十六世紀四十年代開始居住在澳門的耶穌會士定制, 當時廣東省政府准許葡行海岸捋掠城鄉的海盜的戰鬥中勇善戰的海軍。聖餐杯模仿了歐式金屬器型, 可萄牙人在此定居, 以答謝他們在對橫給予的幫助。當時的中國沒有一隻驍能在天主 教徒做彌撒時 使用。