Lot Essay

This small water pot is an exemplary piece of early Qing cloisonné craftsmanship. The use of a yellow ground, a colour traditionally reserved for the imperial household, paired with the bingmei wen (“ice-cracked with plum blossom”) motif is especially noteworthy. While this design originated in Kangxi-period porcelain as an imitation of the crackled glaze of Song dynasty Guan ware, its appearance in cloisonné enamel is much rarer and demonstrates remarkable technical and aesthetic adaptation. Symbolically, the motif conveys scholarly integrity and perseverance: the plum blossom, blooming amid frost, embodies the ideal that “the fragrance of plum blossoms comes from the bitter cold.”