Lot Essay
A number of large 'peach' dishes can be found in important collections around the world. The composition differs on each dish but contains the same elements of peaches and iron-red bats, with two peach trees rising from the foot and continuing over the rim. The design is considered to be most auspicious as the peaches are a symbol of longevity and the five bats, wufu, are a homophon for the Five Blessings: long life, wealth, peace, love of virtue, and a good end to one's life.
This group of dishes represent the art of Yongzheng ceramic potting and enamelling at the highest level. It is now well documented that pink enamel (famille rose) which is derived from colloidal gold was discovered by Andreas Cassius of Leyden in the mid 17th century. After being employed on glass ware and Nuremburg ceramics it was introduced to the Chinese court late in the reign of Emperor Kangxi by Jesuit missionaries. Initially it was used in the Palace workshop to decorate metal wares and later the technique was refined and transferred to the decoration of porcelain. The Emperor Yongzheng took immense interest in the production of Imperial porcelain and the quality of the body, glaze and enamels improved under his patronage. Rosemary S. Scott notes in Percival David Foundation of Art, A Guide to the Collection, p.106 the significance of the introduction pink, opaque yellow and opaque white enamels to the range of colours used in porcelain decoration. Moreover the opaque white could be blended with other enamels to produce gradations of colour as can be clearly seen on this dish.
The handling of the enamels and the treatment of the motifs can be closely compared to a similar dish from the collection of Frederick J. and Antoinette H. Van Slyke Collection, sold in New York, 31 May 1989, lot 209. Both that dish and the current example are notable for the exceptionally large size of the peaches and the fewer number of blossoming branches. Cf. the example in the Percival David Collection, London, illustrated in Catalogue, section 2, pl. XVI, no. A 840, and also by Rosemary E. Scott, Percival David Foundation of Chinese Art, no. 111.; and the dish illustrated by J. Ayers, Far Eastern Ceramics in the Victoria and Albert Museum pl. 63., included in the Oriental Ceramic Society Exhibition, The Ceramic Art of China, 1971, Catalogue, no. 221.
There is a group of smaller, finely potted dishes with a comparable design of two peach trees, peaches and iron-red bats. For a discussion of this group see An Exhibition of Important Chinese Ceramics from the Robert Chang Collection, Catalogue, no. 92. Cf. an example in the British Museum, see Oriental Ceramics, The World's Great Collections, Kodansha Series, vol. 5, no. 226; another in The Museum of Far Eastern Antiquities, Stockholm, is illustrated in ibid, vol. col. pl. 67; another dish at the Asia Society, is illustrated in Handbook of the Mr and Mrs John D. Rockefeller 3rd Collection, pl. 82. For another pair see Selected Masterpieces of Oriental Ceramics, Matsuoka Museum of Art, no. 84.
This group of dishes represent the art of Yongzheng ceramic potting and enamelling at the highest level. It is now well documented that pink enamel (famille rose) which is derived from colloidal gold was discovered by Andreas Cassius of Leyden in the mid 17th century. After being employed on glass ware and Nuremburg ceramics it was introduced to the Chinese court late in the reign of Emperor Kangxi by Jesuit missionaries. Initially it was used in the Palace workshop to decorate metal wares and later the technique was refined and transferred to the decoration of porcelain. The Emperor Yongzheng took immense interest in the production of Imperial porcelain and the quality of the body, glaze and enamels improved under his patronage. Rosemary S. Scott notes in Percival David Foundation of Art, A Guide to the Collection, p.106 the significance of the introduction pink, opaque yellow and opaque white enamels to the range of colours used in porcelain decoration. Moreover the opaque white could be blended with other enamels to produce gradations of colour as can be clearly seen on this dish.
The handling of the enamels and the treatment of the motifs can be closely compared to a similar dish from the collection of Frederick J. and Antoinette H. Van Slyke Collection, sold in New York, 31 May 1989, lot 209. Both that dish and the current example are notable for the exceptionally large size of the peaches and the fewer number of blossoming branches. Cf. the example in the Percival David Collection, London, illustrated in Catalogue, section 2, pl. XVI, no. A 840, and also by Rosemary E. Scott, Percival David Foundation of Chinese Art, no. 111.; and the dish illustrated by J. Ayers, Far Eastern Ceramics in the Victoria and Albert Museum pl. 63., included in the Oriental Ceramic Society Exhibition, The Ceramic Art of China, 1971, Catalogue, no. 221.
There is a group of smaller, finely potted dishes with a comparable design of two peach trees, peaches and iron-red bats. For a discussion of this group see An Exhibition of Important Chinese Ceramics from the Robert Chang Collection, Catalogue, no. 92. Cf. an example in the British Museum, see Oriental Ceramics, The World's Great Collections, Kodansha Series, vol. 5, no. 226; another in The Museum of Far Eastern Antiquities, Stockholm, is illustrated in ibid, vol. col. pl. 67; another dish at the Asia Society, is illustrated in Handbook of the Mr and Mrs John D. Rockefeller 3rd Collection, pl. 82. For another pair see Selected Masterpieces of Oriental Ceramics, Matsuoka Museum of Art, no. 84.