Su Sancai Yaxun

Lot 280

Startprice € 1.000.000.-

Noble, three coloured incense burning duck, exclusively fired for the Emperor of China.

Height 26 cm. Porcelain, white/eggshell, overglaze enamels in yellow, green and aubergine-purple. Lower part broken and simply restored by the owner. Signed on the bottom with the Cheng Hua mark.
Enclosed three Original expertises.
The duck is composed of two parts, the main body describes an elliptical form. The upper part is removable, the lower part shows at it’s inner lip six small ventilation holes, so that the air can flow in the body, through the throat and out of the open mouth of the duck. The tongue is responsible for the natural appearance of the air stream.
The duck is one of the most exquisite Chinese kilnware. Made in a new kind of overglazed colour figure which is finished by a secondary firing in low temperature after drawing in pattern.  

History: Zhu Jianshen reigned as the Cheng Hua emperor in the Ming Dynasty from 1465 to 1487. His first concubine Wan Guifei had given birth to a son, who died early. She had a great influence on his live and tried to keep him away from other concubines. One of Cheng Hua´s later concubines Lady Ji gave also birth to a son, the future Ming emperor. She was murdered by Wan Guifei’s agents in 1475. Cheng Hua gave her the title of the Imperial concubine. Approximately at that time, in memory of her,  he  gave the order to produce one of the first Su Sancai Yaxun burning ducks.

Expertise: The present Su Sancai Yaxun incense burning duck has been identified by many experts in China. Due to this it is in accordance to the two Su Sancai Yaxun fragmented piece unearthed in Jingdezheng/China in the 1980s, which now is shown in the Palace Museum in Beijing and the Shanghai Museum.

Provenience: The former owner of the duck was the art collector Mr. Prof. Xu Yaoping, which had a close relationship with Chiang Kai-Shek, Soong Ching Ling, Kong Xianqxii, Chen Jieru and the celebrities in the political circle of China.  Also he was a benefactor of the well-known artist Mr. Xu Beihong. In 1943 Professor Xu Yaoping went to Europe with his art collection (the duck and many calligraphies). He died in 1948. The art collection fell in oblivion, because his only 7 years old son didn’t know about it. Now Prof. Xu Yaoping´s son, the current owner of the duck, has given the duck to Kunst- & Auktionshaus Herr, Cologne/Germany, in order to find in the upcoming auction on June 2nd, 2012 a  new owner for this spriritual Chinese object of cultural value, which was exclusively made for the Emperor of China.

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