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Lot Essay
This 'birthday' plate is highly unusual in that it bears the mark of the emperor Chenghua, rather than that of the emperor Kangxi. 'Birthday' dishes were made in sets to celebrate the 60th birthday of the emperor Kangxi in 1713. According to R. E. Scott, For the Imperial Court: Qing Porcelain from the Percival David Foundation, London, 1997, p. 48, it seems unlikely that these dishes were actually used during the imperial birthday celebrations, but were probably presented to guests as a gift.
Compare other plates and dishes, similarly decorated with the incised birthday greeting, hong fu qi tian (happiness as vast as the heavens) but with a Kangxi six-character mark: one is illustrated by R. Krahl, Chinese Ceramics from the Meiyintang Collection, Vol. 2, Hong Kong, 1994, pl. 786; a pair was included in the Honolulu Academy of Arts exhibition, The Barbara Hutton Collection of Chinese Porcelain, 1956, illustrated in the Catalogue, pl. X (right); and another, with a Chenghua mark, sold at Sotheby's Hong Kong, 20 May 1986, lot 74. Compare also a Kangxi dish with the same border of bats, painted in the famille verte palette at the centre, sold at Christie's Hong Kong, The Robert Chang Collection, 2 November 1999, lot 520; another was included in the Barbara Hutton Collection exhibition, op.cit., plate X (left).
A number of different designs were commissioned for the 'birthday' sets, many enamelled in the famille verte palette with an iron-red border including seal characters; six different designs of this type, including birds, figures, flowering and fruiting branches and insects, were sold in these Rooms, 12 December 1977, lots 198-203; two dishes from this set were sold again in our Hong Kong Rooms, The Imperial Sale, 29 April 2002, lots 553 and 554. Three similar examples were sold from the Jingguantang Collection in our Hong Kong Rooms, 3 November 1996, lots 586, 587 and 589.
Compare other plates and dishes, similarly decorated with the incised birthday greeting, hong fu qi tian (happiness as vast as the heavens) but with a Kangxi six-character mark: one is illustrated by R. Krahl, Chinese Ceramics from the Meiyintang Collection, Vol. 2, Hong Kong, 1994, pl. 786; a pair was included in the Honolulu Academy of Arts exhibition, The Barbara Hutton Collection of Chinese Porcelain, 1956, illustrated in the Catalogue, pl. X (right); and another, with a Chenghua mark, sold at Sotheby's Hong Kong, 20 May 1986, lot 74. Compare also a Kangxi dish with the same border of bats, painted in the famille verte palette at the centre, sold at Christie's Hong Kong, The Robert Chang Collection, 2 November 1999, lot 520; another was included in the Barbara Hutton Collection exhibition, op.cit., plate X (left).
A number of different designs were commissioned for the 'birthday' sets, many enamelled in the famille verte palette with an iron-red border including seal characters; six different designs of this type, including birds, figures, flowering and fruiting branches and insects, were sold in these Rooms, 12 December 1977, lots 198-203; two dishes from this set were sold again in our Hong Kong Rooms, The Imperial Sale, 29 April 2002, lots 553 and 554. Three similar examples were sold from the Jingguantang Collection in our Hong Kong Rooms, 3 November 1996, lots 586, 587 and 589.