Bowl with a wave décor

It was purchased by Ernest Grandidier on the Paris market from the Japanese and Chinese art dealer Samuel Bing for the sum of 400 francs of the time, a significant figure for a relatively small piece. We can imagine that the dealer – whose Parisian shop would be named Maison de l’art nouveau in 1895 -, like the collector, was struck by the impression of perfection and modernity produced by the line and décor of a form created in China some 150 years before. 

The cup’s beauty is also owed to the visual impact of the contrast between the whiteness of the wave motif and the brilliancy of the coral red background. Spared probably by using a stencil, in a motion at once swift and free, the drawing of the wave harbours an extra subtlety: a pattern of tiny waves treated in the technique known as “secret décor”, obtained by a barely visible incision In the paste before firing. This “secret décor” points to a fondness for a beauty revealed only to the connoisseur’s attentive eye, a taste inherent to scholarly tradition.

The orangey shade of the enamel was achieved by the mixture of potassium nitrate added as a flux to iron oxide used as a base. This coral red is a significant element for dating. It appears at Jingdezhen in the early 18^th century. At the time the imperial manufacture was at its acme in terms of quality. Since being relaunched under Kangxi (1661-1722), stimulated by the Manchu sovereigns’ interest and protection, great directors followed one another, including Nien Xiyao, from 1726 to 1736. He himself was a ceramist and known for having performed research on perspective with Giuseppe Castiglione (1688-1766), a Jesuit painter called to the China Court. In such a context of emulation, research on colours and décor as well as mastery of materials would enable the imperial kilns to produce the finest works of the time.