A FAMILLE ROSE ‘AMOROUS MONK’ CUP, QIANLONG PERIOD, CIRCA 1750-1770

拍品描述

A FAMILLE ROSE ‘AMOROUS MONK’ CUP, QIANLONG PERIOD, CIRCA 1750-1770 China. The cup is delicately potted from eggshell-thin, translucent porcelain of an elegant pale ivory tone. The exterior finely painted in the famille rose palette with a continuous landscape scene depicting a tonsured monk dressed in a brown habit and sandals, abandoning his missal and rosary as he reaches for a young woman wearing a tightly laced bodice, long skirt, and mob cap. The amorous encounter is framed by a gnarled tree and a church to one side, while nearby a finely painted dog looks on with an inquisitive, almost amused expression, as if secretly observing the cleric and his companion. Dimensions: Diameter 7.3 cm Expert’s note: The subject is both erotic and satirical and belongs to a broader tradition of eighteenth-century European anticlerical imagery. The tonsured monk has quite literally abandoned his religious duties: his missal and rosary lie discarded on the ground as he reaches for the young woman before him. The humor of the scene lies in this deliberate contrast between the cleric’s vow of celibacy and his rather worldly desires, a theme that enjoyed considerable popularity in European prints and literature of the period. Even the finely painted dog appears to participate in the joke, observing the amorous encounter with an inquisitive, almost knowing expression. The precise European print source for the composition has apparently not yet been identified, although the scene was almost certainly transmitted to China through an engraving or other printed model. European engravings provided an important source of imagery for Chinese export porcelain during the eighteenth century, allowing the painters at Jingdezhen and Canton to reproduce subjects ranging from Christian and mythological scenes to literary, erotic, and satirical compositions for Western patrons. The design has traditionally been known as ‘The Enterprising Monk’ and is recorded on Chinese export porcelain of the Qianlong period. The subject is also illustrated in François and Nicole Hervouët and Yves Bruneau, La Porcelaine des Compagnies des Indes à Décor Occidental, Paris, 1986, p. 180, fig. 7.112. Erotic subjects were extremely popular with the European market and numerous mildly pornographic designs were copied onto or specially created for Chinese porcelain during the 18th century. Literature comparison: Compare a closely related cup and saucer set with an identical scene, dated 1750-1770, 6.6 cm tall (the cup), in the British Museum, museum number 1953,1015.4.a. Compare also a closely related dish with an identical scene, dated ca. 1750, 20.3 cm diameter, in the Victoria & Albert Museum, accession number C.79-1963.

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