China, 1912-1949. The ovoid body rising from a spreading foot to a waisted neck with a galleried rim. Painted in bright enamels with gilt highlights to depict Shoulao, wearing voluminous robes, offering a peach to Lan Caihe, holding a long staff with a flower basket and a sack filled with flowers at her sides, a young attendant standing beside Shoulao and carrying his basket, all below two iron-red bats painted to the neck. The base with an iron-red four-character seal mark Juren Tang zhi.

Provenance: From an English private collection.
Condition: Very good condition with minor wear and firing flaws. Drilled to base.

Weight: 984.7 g
Dimensions: Height 28 cm

The Juren Tang (‘Hall where Benevolence Resides’) in Zhongnanhai was the building in which Yuan Shikai (1859-1916) lived and also where he had his office around 1915. Yuan Shikai was the first President of the Republic of China and Emperor of the short-lived Empire of China (1915-1916), taking the era name Hongxian. In 1916, Guo Baochang, an antique dealer with a good relation to the court, was appointed to oversee Hongxian’s new Imperial porcelain production. The intent from the outset was that the items produced were to be of excellent quality. The biscuit used was very thin, the enamels were sent from the Imperial Workshops and the mark used was a red seal reading Juren Tang zhi. The quality of items produced was reputed to be excellent. Unfortunately during production, because of the very thin biscuit, many objects were damaged. The remaining few perfect pieces were given to the most favored officials and are exceedingly rare today.

Yuan Shikai stood down as Emperor on 22 March 1916 and resumed his presidency, dying shortly afterward in June 1916. After his death, production was halted and the kilns were destroyed, but the enamels were stolen by workers who then proceeded to copy the Juren Tang production, marking their pieces Hongxian nianzhi (also Hongxian Yu Chih or Hongxian Yuan Nian), mostly with Kaishu script. The first copies produced were apparently of extremely high quality, as they were still using the imperial biscuit and enamels, but quality fell as the quantity increased and, presumably, the imperial resources were depleted. One opinion has it that all Hongxian marked pieces are made after the actual period, and that the only possibly genuine mark of the Hongxian period are the Juren Tang, if any. Still, from extant pieces it is clear that the porcelain industry was much stimulated at this time and for decades to come, and that pieces of very high quality were made, some of which bear the Hongxian mark while others are marked Juren Tang.

Auction result comparison: Compare a related famille rose vase, also depicting Shoulao and with a Juren Tang zhi mark, dated to the Republic period, at Christie’s London in Fine Chinese Ceramics and Works of Art on 13 May 2014, lot 402, sold for GBP 37,500.

民國居仁堂款粉彩《壽老》賞瓶
中國，1912-1949年。唇沿，削肩，縮腹，圈足外撇。粉彩描金繪壽老，身穿長袍，手執長杖，高舉仙桃，身側站著侍者。頸部兩隻鐵紅釉蝙蝠。鐵紅釉四字款“居仁堂製”。

來源：英國私人收藏。
品相：狀況極好，有輕微磨損和燒製瑕疵。底部鑽孔。

重量：984.7 克
尺寸：高 28 釐米

拍賣結果比較：比較一件民國居仁堂款粉彩壽老紋賞瓶，見倫敦佳士得 Fine Chinese Ceramics and Works of Art 2014年5月13日 lot 402, 售價GBP 37,500。