THE PORCELAIN KANGXI PERIOD (1661-1722), THE ORMOLU CIRCA 1765

Decoration in the wucai, or ‘five colors’, palette originated during the Ming Dynasty and reached its peak under the reign of the Jiajing Emperor (1522-1566), representing a major turning point in the development of Chinese polychrome porcelain. Despite its name, wucai is not strictly limited to five colors, but still most typically combines three main overglaze enamels (red, green and yellow) with underglaze blue and black outlining on the white ground. Wucai wares were valued for their bold colors and comparatively free style of painting—especially in contrast to the delicate doucai (‘joined colors’) technique that preceded them—and were relatively uncommon in France in the eighteenth century. Wucai porcelain mounted in eighteenth-century ormolu appears somewhat infrequently on the auction market, with some notable recent examples including a pair of cache-pots sold Christie's, New York, 12 December 2024, lot 24; a single cache-pot from the Collection of Carroll Petrie & European Decorative Arts from the Birmingham Museum of Art, Alabama, sold Christie’s, New York, 31 March 2016, lot 1201; and a pair of cache-pots sold Christie's, London, 6 July 2012, lot 70.