Caicai Kaiguang Dragon Phoenix Pattern Bowl

[Colored and Bright Dragon and Phoenix Pattern Bowl]

Colored and Bright Dragon and Phoenix Pattern Bowl is a bowl with a height of 7cm and a diameter of 15cm in the Qianlong period of the Qing Dynasty
The bowl has an open mouth, a slanted belly, a flat bottom, and rounded feet. Paint red, green, yellow, green, and red layers from bottom to top. The rim of the bowl is decorated with a wreath pattern inside, and the outer wall has six circular openings. The inside is carved with colored paint, three dragons, and three phoenixes. The phoenixes are on the left, and the dragons are on the right, facing each other. Among them, a dragon painted its body green and its back mane red; The body of a dragon is painted red and its mane is painted green; A dragon is painted yellow on its body and green on its mane. The corresponding three phoenixes are either three-dimensional, recumbent, or supine, with different shapes. The three sets of lights are arranged clockwise. The exterior of the opening light is decorated with yellow diamond-shaped brocade patterns, embossed with miscellaneous treasure patterns such as silver ingots, round coins, corals, Ruyi, and Fangsheng. Near the foot, there is a circumferential lotus pattern, and the exterior wall of the ring foot is carved with red paint hooked with thunder patterns. The inside of the bowl and the inside of the feet are painted with plain black paint, and the outer bottom is carved with a knife in the middle and filled with gold in six characters in regular script, “Made in the Qianlong Year of the Qing Dynasty.”
The Qianlong Caicai Kaiguang bowl with dragon and phoenix patterns was made by imitating similar utensils from the Jiajing Dynasty. According to the records in the “Records of the Work Done by the Manufacturing Office”, the Qing Dynasty Palace collected three Jiajing style bowls with carved colors and bright dragon and phoenix patterns (one existing at the Beijing Palace Museum). In September of the forty first year of Qianlong’s reign (1776), a decree was issued to send these three bowls to Suzhou, with the bowls painted in plain black paint, so there was no need to move outside the bowls. Then make four pieces in the same way and engrave the “Made in the Qianlong Year of the Qing Dynasty” three line square pattern. In May of the 42nd year (1777), two Jiajing style bowls with dragon and phoenix patterns were made in black paint and sent to Beijing first. In July, they were equipped with wooden seats and handed over to Chunhua Pavilion. In the following year, Emperor Qianlong wrote a poem dedicated to this bowl, “Yong Jiajing Carved Lacquer Bowl,” in which he praised its “exquisite carving and marvellous carving.” Despite the broken lines on the surface, it was difficult to preserve it completely. This is probably an important reason why Qianlong ordered Suzhou to be painted in another dark place. At the beginning of the 43rd year of Qianlong’s reign (1778), Suzhou Weaving delivered four Qianlong style carved and glazed dragon and phoenix shaped bowls (three currently available at the Beijing Palace Museum) and a prototype Jiajing style bowl to the capital, which lasted for more than a year and were successfully copied. The emperor must have been quite satisfied after seeing them, so the newly made bowls were placed in the Qianqing Palace and the Ningshou Palace, which he frequented frequently, for fun at any time. Make sample bowls with incense and exchange them at the Jingqi Pavilion of the Ningshou Palace (now the Treasure Museum)< "From the perspective of real objects, the lacquer layer of the Qianlong imitation is slightly thicker than that of the Jiajing bowl, with a pure red lacquer color and relatively small yellow rhombus brocade patterns.". Although there are three dragons and three phoenixes facing each other in the circular opening light, the three sets of opening lights of the Jiajing bowl are arranged counterclockwise in turn. Although the craftsmanship of the Jiajing carved colorful dragon and phoenix bowl is not as delicate as that of the imitation, it is considered "original" and the pattern lines seem more lively and smooth