Description
This tea bowl has an everted mouth, deep curving walls, and a short ring foot. The inner surface of the vessel is coated with white glaze, upon which colorful aquatic plant patterns have been painted. The yellow external surface is adorned with incised hydrangea-style silk patterns, on which a chrysanthemum with stem and three wild chrysanthemums have been painted. The mouth and ring foot are glazed in white, and are encircled by a ring of incised line patterns. The body is thin and translucent. On the underside of the vase, a blue four-character, two-column inscription in standard script reads, "Qian Long Nian Zhi (Made in the Qianlong Reign)." The inscription is surrounded by a double-square frame. Only one such work exists in the Museum collections, and the original accession number was marked by the character, "yu (rain)," indicating that this was part of the collections of the Zhonghua Palace, as confirmed by a yellow Qing-court label marking this work as "Zhong Number Two-Seven-One." The great majority of painted enamel works were housed in the Qianqing Palace, but a few were placed in the palaces frequently visited by the Emperor, or in important gardens such as the Yuan Ming Yuan and the Summer Palace. The incised flower patterns are delicately made and demonstrate fine craftsmanship, as even slight carelessness could result in uneven lines and spaces. In several places along the incised lines and hydrangea-patterns near the rim, flaking can be observed. The glazed surface of such incised patterns must be constantly kept clean, but stains can be seen within the incised markings of this work. This bowl resembles the work shown in Plate 85 (故瓷17517) in terms of form and decorative patterns, but the floral patterns are the latter work are even more fine and delicate. However, both works may have been produced around the same period.