18TH CENTURY

A group of vessels painted in the grisaille palette were produced in the Yongzheng period, echoing classical Chinese ink painting. Under the supervision of Superintendent Nian Xiyuao and Tang Ying (as listed by Xie Min, governor of Jianxi province between 1729 and 1734, in the Jiangxi Tongzhi, General Description of the Province of Jiangxi, published in 1732), porcelain vessels decorated in black appeared for the first time. See a pair of 18th century grisaille-decorated dishes painted in the same style as the current vase, in the Percival David Collection, museum number PDF.843, illustrated in Imperial Taste: Chinese Ceramics from the Percival David Foundation of Chinese Art, Los Angeles County Museum of Art and Percival David Foundation of Chinese Art, 1989, p. 117, fig. 3.