A RARE WUCAI ‘MONTH’ CUP, KANGXI MARK AND PERIODChina, 1662-1722. Delicately potted with deep rounded sides rising from a short foot to a flared rim, superbly enameled around the exterior with a red-flowering peach tree with small blossoms among scant leaves, representing the third month, the reverse inscribed in underglaze blue with a poem followed by a seal mark, the recessed base with an underglaze-blue six-character markda Qing Kangxi nianzhi and of the period.Inscriptions: To one side, ‘Fenghua xinshe yan / shijie jiuchun nong’ (The swallow returns when the blossoms sway in the breeze / It is the season in late spring when farmers return to their fields). One seal, ‘Shang’ (appreciation).Provenance: From the collection of Carl Gustav Kjellin, acquired in Shanghai during the 1940s, and thence by descent in the family. Carl Gustav Kjellin (1910-1990) was a Swedish diplomat who was stationed in China until 1945 and thereafter at the Swedish embassy in Tokyo. He acquired most of his collection of Chinese porcelain and works of art during his time in Asia.Condition: Perfect condition with only minor wear. Minimal firing irregularities, including a microscopic glaze blister of less than 2 mm to the rim.Weight: 28.5 gDimensions: Diameter 6.5 cmThis finely potted cup is one of the so-called ‘month c’, made at the imperial kilns during the Kangxi reign. One was made for each month of the lunar calendar. As in the case of the current example, these c are so thinly potted that the blue of the inscription on the exterior can be seen through the porcelain from the interior of the vessel. Their decoration is characterized by very delicately painted decoration in underglaze blue and wucai enamels. Each of the c has on one side a floral design appropriate to a particular month, and on the other side a poem whichplements the design. Each of the c also bears an underglaze blue seal character after the poem, which can be read as ‘shang’ (appreciation).Literatureparison:Compare a closely related cup included in the Oriental Ceramic Society exhibition Enamelled Polychrome Porcelain of the Manchu Dynasty (1644-1912), London, 1951, cat. no. 253. The Percival David Foundation in London has one of the fewplete sets of c for all twelve months, now in the collection of the British Museum, registration number PDF.815. The design on the current cup is very similar to the third month cup in the Percival David Foundation and bears the same poem, see Rosemary Scott, For the Imperial Court - Qing Porcelain from the Percival David Foundation of Chinese Art, New York, 1997, pp. 82-83, no. 23. The Palace Museum, Bejing owns at least two sets, illustrated in Chugoku toji zenshu plete 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, page 65, no. 48. One is in the Idemi