A VERY FINE AND RARE FAMILLE VERTE SMALL 'BIRTHDAY' SAUCER

Details
A VERY FINE AND RARE FAMILLE VERTE SMALL 'BIRTHDAY' SAUCER
ENCIRCLED KANGXI SIX-CHARACTER MARK AND OF THE PERIOD

The saucer is finely and delicately potted with low rounded sides, the interior enamelled in shades of green, aubergine, black and iron-red with a large peach on a short stem and a gilt shou character; the glaze has a soft blue tinge on the base and stops at the foot
2 3/4 in. (7 cm.) diam., box

Exhibited
Christie's London, An Exhibition of Important Chinese Ceramics from the Robert Chang Collection, 2-14 June 1993, Catalogue, no. 33.

Lot Essay

A pair of dishes of this small size and pattern is included in the Illustrated Catalogue of Qing Enamelled Wares in the Percival David Foundation of Chinese Art, Section 2, Revised Edition, 1991, p. 19, nos. 800 and 801, and is catalogued as being part of the 'Birthday Service' made for the celebration of the 60th birthday anniversary of the Emperor Kangxi in 1713. For another dish from this service, and a discussion on the group, see lot 520 in this catalogue.

Larger dishes of this pattern are more common, cf. the dish (28.6 cm. diameter) in the Percival David Foundation illustrated by Beurdeley and Raindre, Qing Porcelain: Famille Verte, Famille Rose, Thames and Hudson, 1987, p. 53, no. 57. See also a dish (28.6 cm.) of similar design in the Asian Art Museum of San Francisco, illustrated by He Li, Chinese Ceramics, 1996, p. 304, no. 652; and another (28.8 cm.) with the gilt characters wanshou in the Palace Museum, Beijing included in Kangxi, Yongzheng, Qianlong, p. 70, no. 53.

The painting of the peach on this exquisite small saucer varies in the use of "stippled" effects to the broadly painted peaches on the much larger dishes.

(US$38,000-50,000)

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