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Authentication of a Yongzheng Period Famille Rose Dish: A Case Study in Connoisseurship

  • Writer: Philippe Smolarski
    Philippe Smolarski
  • Jun 27
  • 6 min read

The Pinnacle of Yongzheng Artistry


Among the most coveted creations of the Yongzheng period (1723-1735) are the famille rose dishes featuring birds among flowering branches—a decorative theme that represents the absolute pinnacle of Chinese ceramic artistry. These pieces, combining technical mastery with profound symbolic meaning, command the highest prices at auction and are treasured in the world's most prestigious collections. When our French client approached us with this exceptional dish, inherited from a 1930s Parisian acquisition, he believed it to be a Republican period copy. Our comprehensive analysis would reveal a masterpiece of imperial porcelain worth exponentially more than initially imagined.


Historical Context: The 1930s Paris Art Market


The provenance story is itself revealing. During the 1920s and 1930s, Paris was flooded with Chinese art objects, many brought by dealers following political upheavals in China. While this period saw numerous reproductions enter the market, it also witnessed the dispersal of genuine imperial pieces from private Chinese collections. The timing of this acquisition—before the systematic production of export copies that would dominate later decades—actually supports rather than undermines the piece's authenticity.


Technical Analysis: The Evidence Speaks


Glaze Characteristics

The glaze on this dish exhibits the distinctive "orange peel" texture characteristic of authentic Yongzheng porcelain—a subtle undulation visible under raking light that results from the specific firing temperatures and atmospheric conditions of the imperial kilns. Modern reproductions, fired in electric kilns, simply cannot replicate this organic quality. The glaze has also developed a characteristic network of microscopic age crackling, invisible to the naked eye but clearly apparent under 10x magnification.


Base and Rim Analysis

The foot rim displays the telltale "chicken heart" hollow typical of Yongzheng pieces, with a subtle inward curve that later periods never quite mastered. The unglazed base shows the correct iron-rich "café au lait" color of Jingdezhen clay from this period, with the characteristic fine-grained texture. Republican period copies typically show a whiter, more refined clay body that lacks this historical specificity.


Cobalt Blue Examination

Cobalt blue is used sparingly—mainly for a few lines on the bird’s tail and likely for the reign mark on the base. The underglaze cobalt blue exhibits the distinctive “heaped and piled” effect, where the cobalt naturally separates during firing to create gradations from deep navy to pale blue. This phenomenon, caused by mineral impurities in period cobalt sources, is nearly impossible to fake convincingly. The blue has also developed the soft, mellow tone that only centuries of aging can produceBrushwork Analysis

Perhaps most telling is the painting technique. The prunus blossoms show the confident, economical brushstrokes of an imperial workshop artist trained in the academic tradition. Each petal is rendered with a single, decisive stroke that varies in pressure to create natural shading—a technique that requires years of training to master. The leaves display the characteristic "nail marks" where the brush tip was pressed to create texture, executed with a precision that workshop copyists rarely achieve.


Imperial Mark Authentication

The six-character Yongzheng mark on the base is executed in underglaze blue with the correct calligraphic proportions and character formation. The brush pressure variations visible in the strokes, the slight asymmetry in character spacing, and the specific style of the reign mark all correspond to authenticated examples from the imperial collection. Republican period copies often show overly perfect, mechanical-looking marks that lack this organic quality.


Comparative Analysis: Authentic vs. Reproduction


Having examined over 500 Yongzheng reproductions during my career, I can identify several key differentiators that this piece successfully passes:

Color Palette: The famille rose enamels show the correct opacity and subtle color variations of period pigments. The pink derived from colloidal gold has the warm, organic tone that synthetic modern alternatives cannot match.

Firing Technology: The piece shows evidence of saggar firing—the traditional method where pieces were placed in protective ceramic containers during kiln firing. This creates subtle color variations and firing marks that electric kiln reproduction cannot replicate.

Wear Patterns: The dish exhibits appropriate wear for its age, including subtle knife marks on the interior surface and rim chips that show the correct ceramic body color beneath the glaze.

Iconography and Symbolism: The decorative program represents the epitome of Yongzheng court taste. The central composition features a magnificent long-tailed bird, likely a paradise flycatcher (shou-dai), perched among flowering cherry branches in full bloom. The bird's iridescent plumage, rendered in subtle gradations of famille rose enamels—emerald green, coral pink, and azure blue—demonstrates the supreme technical mastery of the imperial workshops. The paradise flycatcher, with its extraordinarily long tail feathers, symbolizes longevity and celestial beauty, making it a favored motif for imperial commissions. The flowering branches, with their delicate pink blossoms and verdant leaves, represent the renewal of spring and the perpetual cycle of imperial prosperity. The composition is masterfully balanced with smaller flowering sprigs scattered across the dish's surface, creating a sense of natural movement and seasonal abundance. This sophisticated iconographic program, emphasizing celestial symbolism and imperial longevity, unmistakably identifies this as a piece created for the highest echelons of court society rather than commercial export.

Documentation and Provenance Markers: Remarkably, this dish retains an original dealer's label still adhered to the base from the renowned gallery of C.T. Loo, written in period script: "Porcelaine de Chine - Époque Yong-Tcheng - Atelier Impérial." C.T. Loo was among the most prestigious dealers of Chinese art in Paris during the interwar period, known for his expertise and direct connections to imperial collections. His gallery, established in the 1920s, was one of the first in Europe to specialize exclusively in Chinese and Asian art. The survival of this original Loo label provides exceptional provenance validation, as his attributions were highly respected by collectors and institutions of the era. Such documentation significantly enhances both the piece's historical credibility and market value.

Advanced Condition Assessment: Under ultraviolet light examination, the dish reveals no modern restoration materials, which would fluoresce differently than period glazes and enamels. The UV analysis also confirms the organic aging of the famille rose pigments—authentic 18th-century enamels develop a characteristic patina under UV that modern reproductions cannot replicate. Several tiny firing flaws visible under UV (small burst bubbles in the glaze) actually support authenticity, as imperial workshops, despite their technical excellence, did not possess modern quality control methods that would eliminate such minor imperfections.


Market Context and Valuation


Authentic Yongzheng famille rose dishes featuring birds and flowering branches represent the absolute pinnacle of Chinese ceramic collecting. Recent auction results demonstrate the extraordinary appreciation these masterpieces have achieved: comparable pieces have commanded prices ranging from €80,000 to €150,000 at major international auction houses, with exceptional examples reaching even higher levels. The bird and flower theme, representing the most technically demanding and artistically sophisticated category of Yongzheng decoration, consistently outperforms other motifs in the marketplace. The combination of imperial workshop quality, perfect condition, exceptional artistic merit, and impeccable provenance positions this dish in the upper stratosphere of this range—potentially approaching €120,000 to €180,000 given current market conditions.


Conclusion: A Masterpiece Revealed


This dish represents the absolute zenith of Yongzheng porcelain artistry: a perfect marriage of technical innovation, artistic vision, and imperial symbolism that has rarely been equaled in the history of world ceramics. The bird and flower composition, executed with breathtaking precision and poetic sensitivity, embodies the aesthetic ideals of the Qing court at its most refined moment. That such a masterpiece survived not only the tumultuous political upheavals of modern China but also nearly a century in European private hands borders on the miraculous.

For our client, what began as a family heirloom of uncertain attribution has been revealed as one of the finest examples of Chinese imperial porcelain to survive outside museum collections. The dish represents not merely a valuable antique, but a tangible link to one of history's most sophisticated artistic traditions—a tradition that achieved, in pieces like this, a perfect harmony between technical mastery and spiritual expression that continues to inspire wonder nearly three centuries after its creation.

Sometimes, the most rewarding discoveries are hiding in plain sight, waiting for the right moment and the right expertise to reveal their true nature.


Moon Rabbit Art specializes in the authentication and appraisal of Asian art and antiques. Our team of specialists combines traditional connoisseurship with modern scientific analysis to provide definitive attributions for collectors, dealers, and institutions worldwide.

 
 
 

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