QIANJIANG PORCELAIN CUP SIGNED BY YU ZIMING, China, dated 1889

Beautifully lobed in the shape of a chrysanthemum, it is masterfully painted with a landscape in perfect Qianjiang style; on the reverse is an inscription bearing the signature of the artist Ziming (子明) and the cyclic date ji chou (己丑) corresponding to the year 1889. The base is stamped with the apocryphal seal mark in red of Emperor Tongzhi.

Provenance: Private Collection, Italy.

Catalogue notes: Active from 1872 to 1910, he is the only one of the Qianjiang painters of the late Qing dynasty to boast the longest and most extensive output. Considered a master of the Qianjiang style, he played an important role in the evolution of coloured porcelain in the late Qing period. His landscapes follow the style of the famous Ming dynasty artist Shen Zhou. 

See the plate illustrated with a landscape in 'Qianjiang Ware in the Late Qing Period', editor in chief Xu Jinfan and Cheng Bing, Shanghai 2011, p. 187, no. 64.