A fine and exceedingly rare set of twelve famille-verte ‘month’ cups, Marks and period of Kangxi清康熙 五彩十二月花神盃一套十二件 《大清康熙年製》款each delicately and thinly potted with a bell shape supported on a short straight foot, exquisitely painted in famille-verte enamels and underglaze blue with a flowering plant emblematic of the month of the year, the reverse inscribed with a poem relating to the flower on the front, followed by a square seal shang (appreciation), inscribed on the base with a six-character mark within a double circle, wood standsd. 6.5 to 6.6 cm来源: Edward T. Chow (1910-80). Collection of the Hall of Leisurely Pastime, since 1950 or earlier.Collection of Paul and Helen Bernat.Sotheby's Hong Kong, 15th November 1988, lot 22.Collection of T.T. Tsui, Jingguantang Collection.Christie's Hong Kong, 3rd November 1996, lot 585.Sotheby's New York, 15th September 1999, lot 88.仇焱之（1910-80年） 翫齋收藏，自1950年或更早 白納德伉儷收藏 香港蘇富比1988年11月15日，編號22 徐展堂（靜觀堂）收藏 香港佳士得1996年11月3日，編號585 紐約蘇富比1999年9月15日，編號88文学: Helen D. Ling and Edward T. Chow, Collection of Chinese Ceramics from the Hall of Leisurely Pastime, Hong Kong, 1950, vol. II, no. 121.The Tsui Museum of Art, Hong Kong, 1991, pl. 103.Sotheby's Hong Kong – Twenty Years, 1973-1993, Hong Kong, 1993, pl. 205.The Tsui Museum of Art. Chinese Ceramics IV: Qing Dynasty, Hong Kong, 1995, pl. 105.Julian Thompson, The Alan Chuang Collection of Chinese Porcelain, Hong Kong, 2009, pl. 40.Helen D. Ling 及仇焱之，《翫齋珍藏歷代名瓷影譜》，香港，1950年，下冊，編號121 《徐氏藝術館》，香港，1991年，圖版103 《香港蘇富比二十週年》，香港，1993年，圖版205 《徐氏藝術館：陶瓷IV》，香港，1995年，圖版105 朱湯生，《中國瓷器：莊紹綏收藏》，香港，2009年，圖版40拍卖专文: The first month is represented by two wintersweet trees whose massive gnarled trunks bear delicate, faint yellow blossoms, while the palest green envelops the branches, and two red stems of lingzhi are growing among low-growing shrubs below. The poem readsThe golden blossoms and verdant calyxes bear the chill of spring.  How many shades of yellow can be found among these flowers?The second month depicts a red-flowering crab apple tree with few leaves and a rock and some smaller blue plants beneath. The poem readsThe fragrance blends with the flavour of evening rain. The beautiful colour stands out in clear weather like in mist.The third month shows a red-flowering peach tree with small blossoms among scant leaves, and further blossoms strewn on the ground among grasses. The poem readsWhen the blossoms sway in the breeze, the swallow returns. This is the time late in spring when the farmer goes back to his fields.The fourth month cup is painted with a cluster of peonies with four red blooms and one yellow, growing behind pierced blue garden rocks. The scene is accompanied by the poemAt dawn its beauty receives dew from a golden palm. In the evening the fragrance penetrates deep into the Jade Hall.The fifth month shows a pomegranate tree bearing red blossoms and red-and-green fruit, overhanging some lilies and a small aubergine-coloured flower. The poem readsThe colour unfolds like the sun on pearl curtains. The breeze bears the fragrance in the shade of the white-washed wall.The sixth month shows a pair of mandarin ducks swimming in a lotus pond with a kingfisher swooping down from on high, the male duck and kingfisher with colourful plumage, the female duck in a pale greyish aubergine, and the lotus flowers and leaves shown in different stages of maturity. The reverse bears the poemThe roots are like jade gleaming in the mud. The hearts contain pearls when dew has descended.The seventh month depicts a bed of densely growing yellowish-green orchids with a cluster of rocks in front and some bare prickly branches between, the leaves well shaded in different tones of green. This is accompanied by the poemThe delicate fragrance pervades the spacious hall. Like music from lofty terraces far away.The eighth month shows a small hare seated in the grass beneath a yellow-flowering cassia tree, and the poemThe branches are growing for months without end. Once they are laden with blossoms, autumn has surely arrived. The ninth month is represented by a chrysanthemum with pale yellow, red and aubergine blooms and a bare prickly branch, with a pierced garden rock and smaller flowers to both sides and a dragonfly and two butterflies hovering above, the accompanying poem readingA thousand fills of wine drunk in a plain white robe. Throughout the whole life fragrant like a young woman.The tenth month shows a red rose growing on moss-covered ground, one long stem overhanging some low-growing blue berries, and one prickly stem growing straight upright, with a yellow and a green butterfly on either side, and the poemUnlike a thousand other species that tire out,  This one alone blazes in red throughout the year.The eleventh month depicts a prunus tree with a powerful trunk and two gnarled branches bearing white blossoms with yellow stamens and dark red calyxes, with some small shoots rising from the ground, a tall rock behind, a clump of narcissus and another low rock to one side, and a younger flowering tree to the other, and on the reverse the poemSimple beauty like a tree frozen with snow. Branches moving in the wind full of clear fragrance.The twelfth month shows two clumps of narcissus, the larger one with a blue rock behind and a single red rose emerging from its midst, and the poemThe spring breeze plays with these gems when daylight arrives. When the moon traverses at night, it sends ripples up the long dike._________________________Month cups depicting seasonal flowers in famille-verte accompanied by pertinent two-line poems are a classic design of the Kangxi period. To acquire a full set of twelve month cups is an ambitious mission which only a few private collectors ever completed with success. This pristine set of twelve month cups is perhaps the first complete set to be recorded in the market when it was published by Edward T. Chow and Helen D. Ling in 1950. It later entered the esteemed collections of Paul and Helen Bernat and T.T. Tsui.Delicately potted, these month cups are meticulously painted in the proper wucai palette of underglaze blue and overglaze enamels, which was devised in the Ming dynasty, but rarely used in the Qing, when the underglaze colour was generally omitted. On these month cups the designs are generally sketched on the unglazed porcelain in a faint underglaze blue.Slight differences in size, colours, writing styles and marks between individual cups and different months suggest that even these cups may not have been produced as sets of twelve, but perhaps issued consecutively as the year evolved, to be assembled at the end. In fact, many examples have survived of some months many, while other months are scarce. For example, cups of the third month with a peach tree, or of the sixth month with lotus and mandarin ducks are extremely difficult to find regardless of condition. Complete sets of month cups are therefore exceedingly rare, with only a handful of them existing outside of museum collections. Among all of the privately owned sets, the present one is arguably the best matched and the finest in terms of quality and condition.Two sets in the Palace Museum, Beijing, are published: Chūgoku tōji zenshū [Complete works on Chinese ceramics], Kyoto, 1981-86, vol. 21, pl. 61, and in Kangxi, Yongzheng, Qianlong. Qing Porcelain from the Palace Museum Collection, Hong Kong, 1989, p. 65, no. 48 (fig. 1); one set from the Sir Percival David Collection in the British Museum, London, is published in the Illustrated Catalogue of Qing Enamelled Wares in the Percival David Foundation of Chinese Art, rev. ed., London, 1991, no. 815; another set, formerly in the collection of J.M. Hu, is first published in Edward T. Chow and Helen D. Ling, Collection of Chinese Ceramics from the Pavilion of Ephemeral Attainment, Hong Kong, 1950, vol. 2, pl. 102, and later entered the Idemitsu Museum, Tokyo, illustrated in Chinese Ceramics in the Idemitsu Collection, Tokyo, 1987, pl. 221; a set in the Hong Kong Museum of Art was exhibited in The Wonders of the Potter’s Palette, Hong Kong, 1984-5, cat. no. 15; and a further set in the Meiyintang collection is included in Regina Krahl, Chinese Ceramics from the Meiyintang Collection, London, 1994-2010, vol. 4, nos 1728-39. Another set was sold at Sotheby's New York, 23rd September 1997, lot 348 and later included in the collection of the Ten-Views Lingbi Rock Retreat, no. EK8.Similar ensembles also exist painted in underglaze blue only; see a set of twelve blue-and-white month cups, also from the collection of T.T. Tsui, illustrated in Tsui Museum of Art. Chinese Ceramics IV: Qing Dynasty, Hong Kong, 1995, pl. 105 B.This complete set of month cups was assembled by Edward T. Chow and entered the prestigious collections of Paul and Helen Bernat and T.T. Tsui. Edward T. Chow (1910-80, fig. 2) was a highly influential 20th century dealer and collector of Chinese art. He embarked on his successful career in Chinese art dealership at an early age, first in Shanghai, later in Hong Kong and eventually in Switzerland. With his expertise and unparalleled demand for quality, he sustained long-term relationships with major collectors of the time, in particular Sir Percival David, King Gustaf Adolf of Sweden, Eiichi Ataka, J.M. Hu and Barbara Hutton. In 1980 and 1981, the three-part sale of his collection at Sotheby’s Hong Kong and London achieved sensational results and precipitated a new era of exceptional prices for Chinese art.Paul Bernat (1902-98, fig. 3), who was born in Budapest and emigrated to America as a child, was a successful textile manufacturer. With the aid of dealers Mathias Komor and Frank Caro, he assembled an outstanding collection of Qing imperial porcelains. He and his wife Helen, donated many pieces to the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, and the Harvard Art Museums. After his death, a large part of his collection, including this outstanding set of month cups, was sold at Sotheby’s Hong Kong.The Hong Kong business tycoon T.T. Tsui (Tsui Tsin-Tong, Xu Zhantang 1941-2010) assembled the renowned Jingguantang collection of Chinese art which was exhibited in the 1990s in his own museum in Hong Kong, The Tsui Museum of Art. A keen promoter of art, Tsui made substantial donations to museums around the world, including The Victoria & Albert Museum, London, the Art Institute of Chicago, the Royal Ontario Museum, the National Gallery of Australia, the Shanghai Museum and the University Museum and Art Gallery of the University of Hong Kong.正月，繪兩棵迎春花樹，樹幹嶙峋多瘤，上開嬌嫩黃花，飾淡綠枝葉。下有灌木叢，長 礬紅靈芝成雙。 詩題：「金英翠萼帶春寒，黃色花中有幾般」 二月，描繪一棵海棠樹，紅花盛開，綠葉疏朗，下有青花畫小石灌叢。 詩題：「清香和宿雨，佳色出晴烟」三月，飾桃樹，紅花怒放，細細密密，綠葉伴隨，草地卻見散落小花。 詩題：「風花新社鷰，時節舊春農」四月，畫一叢牡丹，綻開紅花四朵，另見黃花躲鈷青石後。 詩題：「曉艷遠分金掌露，暮香深惹玉堂風」五月，綴石榴樹一株，開紅花朵朵，結果實纍纍，淡青微紅，樹下並見萱草及淺紫小花。 詩題：「露色珠簾映，香風粉壁遮」六月，描繪鴛鴦成對，泳於荷塘，天邊有翠鳥俯衝飛下。雄鴛翠鳥羽翼斑斕多色，雌鴛則淡紫呈灰。新芽舊葉，蓓蕾穠花，不同之貌，盡在其中。 詩題：「根是泥中玉，心承露下珠」七月，巧繪蘭花，葉片嫩綠淡青，密密叢叢的長於石後，間以帶刺枯枝。 詩題：「廣殿輕香發，高臺遠吹吟」八月，畫桂樹一棵，綻開黃色小花，小野兔歇息樹下草地上。 詩題：「枝生無限月，花滿自然秋」九月，繪米黃、礬紅、淡紫菊花，背後見帶刺嶙枝，秀石小花綴兩旁，蜻蜓來訪，蝴蝶雙飛。 詩題：「千載白衣酒，一生青女香」十月，畫苔蘚遍野，長月季一株，艷放嫣紅，懸空曲莖婉轉流麗，背有筆挺帶刺枝條，旁有矮叢，結鈷青果子，並見淺黃淡綠蝴蝶，穿梭飛舞花間。 詩題：「不隨千種盡，獨放一年紅」十一月，巧畫早梅，主幹粗壯，枝條多瘤，開點點白花，細飾黃蕊紅萼。一旁初冒新枝，別有水仙藏石後，另一旁則繪幼樹花開。 詩題：「素艷雪凝樹，清香風滿枝」十二月，描繪兩叢水仙花，一大一小，大者背靠鈷青雅石，另有月季從中出，一枝獨秀。 詩題：「春風弄玉來清晝，夜月凌波上大堤」________________________________花神盃，繪四時花卉，配以古詩二句，詩畫相輔相成，誠康熙朝瓷作經典。礙於個別月份殊罕，要集齊整套十二件五彩花神盃，極為艱巨。多少清代御瓷藏家，夢寐以求，猶未可及。此組花神盃早在1950年或以前已成套入藏，先後經仇焱之、白納德伉儷、徐展堂等鑑藏名家之手，來源極為顯赫，且瓷精工巧、品相尤佳，論源論質，冠絕同儔，絕無僅有。五彩，自明有之，即以釉下鈷青及釉上彩料繪畫。康熙花神盃，坯冶精妙細膩，皆先以釉下淡青在坯上起草勾勒，沿襲明風，巧飾傳統五彩調子。花神盃以十二器為一套，但各盃在尺寸、顏色、書風和款識上，皆略有差異，暗示它們可能並非成套生產，而是逐一燒造，最後才湊合成組。事實上，傳世品中，有某些月份之盃較多，另一些則十分珍罕，例如繪桃花或夏荷之盃，所以能夠集齊全套，尤其難得。除三數博物館藏品外，私人珍存成組五彩花神盃屈指可數。私人收藏成套十二花神盃中，論匹配程度、品相質素，又以此組最佳，他例難以媲美。成套花神盃非常稀有，但北京故宫博物院擁有至少兩套，圖見於《中国陶磁全集》，京都，1981-86年，卷21，圖版61，以及《故宮珍藏康雍乾瓷器圖錄》，香港，1989年，頁65，編號48（圖一）。倫敦大英博物館大維德基金會藏一組，收錄於《Illustrated Catalogue of Qing Enamelled Wares in the Percival David Foundation of Chinese Art》，倫敦，1991年，編號815。另有一套，乃胡惠春舊藏，最早刊於仇焱之及 Helen D. Ling ，《暫得樓珍藏歷代名瓷影譜》，香港，1950年，卷2，圖版102，入東京出光美術館館藏後又收錄在《中国陶磁：出光美術館藏品圖錄》，東京，1987年，圖版221。香港藝術館還有一組，曾經在《清瓷薈錦：香港藝術館藏清代陶瓷》中展出，香港藝術館，香港，1984-5年，編號15。玫茵堂舊藏一套，收錄在康蕊君，《玫茵堂中國陶瓷》，倫敦，1994-2010 年，卷4，編號1728-39。紐約蘇富比於1997年9月23日亦曾售出一套，編號348，後入藏美國十面靈壁山居收藏，藏品編號 EK8。類似花神盃也有只飾青花者，其中一套十二盃例，同出徐展堂故藏，圖可參見《徐氏藝術館．陶瓷篇IV．清代》，香港，1995年，圖版105B。此組花神盃由仇焱之蒐集，曾先後為白納德伉儷及徐展堂遞藏。仇焱之（1910-1980 年，圖二）乃二十世紀古董商及鑑藏名家，舉足輕重。年幼即入行學藝，攻鑑藏，兼買賣，曾於滬港兩地經商，後移居瑞士。藝學淵博，謹思慎擇，曾輔助許多重要中國藝術收藏家，包括大維德爵士、芭芭拉．赫頓、瑞典國王古斯塔夫六世．阿道夫、胡惠春及安宅英一，助建他們之寶蓄雅藏。仇氏私人所藏，見於1980及1981年共三場拍賣會，釋出大批珍品，轟動業界，於香港藝術市場影響更是深遠悠長。保羅．白納德（1902-1987年，圖三），生於布達佩斯，兒時移居美國，從事織品製造，經營有道。在古董商 Mathias Komor、Frank Caro 等的引導下，集成清代御瓷珍藏。白納德伉儷慷慨捐贈了許多藏品予波士頓美術館及哈佛藝術博物館。保羅離世後，絕大多數珍藏經香港蘇富比釋出，當中包括此套花神盃。香港巨賈徐展堂（1941-2010年），醉心藝藏，冠以靜觀堂之號，舉世知名，1990年代更在其私人博物館「徐氏藝術館」展出，供諸同好。徐氏曾大量捐助各大博物館，尤其是倫敦維多利亞與艾伯特博物館、芝加哥藝術學院、皇家安大略博物館、澳洲國立美術館、上海博物館及香港大學美術博物館。