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Lot 337
A RARE REALGAR GLASS SAUCER DISH
Estimated Value:
1.500 € - 2.500 €
Result:
incl. Premium and VAT
Description:
China, Qianlong periodD. 17,2 cm
Of opaque molten orange, yellow and ochre and chrysochloruos greenish-gold colour glass swirled together resembling the realgar mineral, the deep rounded sides cut with a short rim around the mouth, the interior pattern with a whirlpool of colors encorcling the base, supported on a low straight foot with a recessed base.
Collection of Marion Héléne von Goldschmidt-Rothschild (Schuster) (1902 - 1982), most likely preserved in the collection of the Palais Grueneburg, Frankfurt by descent to a family member
Realgar glass was inspired by the mineral realgar, the name of which is after the Arabic word rak alh ghar meaning 'dust of the mines'. In China, realgar is called xiong huang, but is more commonly referred to as wuguarang (dwarf melon flesh) and is described by Zhou Jixu, a late Qing period connoisseur, as glass containing blotches of red and yellow arbitrarily pulled to gether. As the mineral realgar is highly poisonous, it began to be copied in glass which is believed to be amongst the earliest works of the Qing Imperial Glassworks established by the Kangxi emperor in 1696 under the directorship of Jesuit missionary Kilian Stumpf. The ingenuity of craftsmen working during the Qianlong period is reflected in this saucer, which has been skil fully made to simulate the striking orange-red colour of realgar. Due to the attractive yet highly poisonous nature of the min eral, glass copies where produced which possesed their own beauty in the glossy unpredictable patterns that seem to elicit constant change. The simple yet elegant form of this saucer with it's perfect proportion and the elegant swirling pattern in the glass, demonstrate the high level of workmanship achieved by artisans employed in the Imperial Glass workshop. A dish of similar form with a Qianlong four-character mark was preserved in the Water, Stone and Pine collection of Hugh Moss, sold at Sotheby's Hongkong, 8.10.2009, Lot 1819. An extremely rare pair of these dishes with Qianlong mark was sold from the Duchange collection, Paris at Sotheby's Hongkong 7.10.2010, Lot 2168 with the following notes 'A dish of deep yellow colouration and this form with a wheel-cut Qianlong mark to the base, from the Qing Court collection and still in Beijing, illus trated in Zhongguo jinyin boli falang qi quanji, vol. 4, Shijiazhuang, 2004, pl. 164 and a lemon-glass dish is inclued in the exhi bition 'Elegance and Radiance', The Art Museum, The Chinese University of Hong Kong', Hongkong 2000, cat. no. 27, which is decribed as 'manifesting a form that is synonymous with the typical Palace workshop'. Realgar was believed to contain the essence of gold and possibly for this reason, became a source of fascination despite its poisonous qualities. It is beleived that realgar was mixed with drugs uswd by Daoists in the quest for the elexir of immortali ty; thus the stone grew in popularity to the extent that despite its highly toxic nature and challenging soft crumbly texture it was used for the carving of Daoist figures. For example a realgar sculpture of the Immortal He Xiuan Gu, in the British Muse um London, is illustrated in R. Soame Jenyns, Chinese Art, The Minor Arts II, London, 1965, pl. 200. Further examples of real gar-type glass vessels include two mallet vases, one in the Palace Museum Beijing, included in 'Luster of Autumn Winter. Glass of the Qing Imperial Workshop', Beijing 2005, pl. 25; and the other in the Water, Pine and Stone Retreat collection' as sembled by Hugh Moss was sold at Sotheby's Hongkong, 8.10.2009, Lot 1802 - Small restored section to stand
