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Lot Essay
This bowl is of a very unusual form and decoration and few comparable works appear to have been published. One, a similar Yongzheng-marked bowl in the Palace Museum, Beijing, is illustrated in Kangxi. Yongzheng. Qianlong. Qing Porcelain from the Palace Museum Collection, Hong Kong, 1989, pl. 24. Another version of this design, with white grapes on the lavender ground, was sold at Sotheby’s Hong Kong, 3 June, 2016, lot 818.
Grapes are recorded as having been brought to China from Central Asia by Zhang Qian, an envoy of Emperor Wudi, when he returned to China in 128 BC. Both green and black grapes are recorded as being grown in China by the beginning of the 6th century AD, and there is even a seedless variety mentioned in texts from the Song dynasty. By the early 15th century many different varieties of grape were grown. The grapes were eaten fresh, as well as dried in the form of raisins, but do not seem to have been used to make wine until the Tang dynasty. Grapes rarely appeared as decoration on Chinese art objects of the early period, with the exception of those depicted in relief on pilgrim flasks of the period Six Dynasties-Sui dynasty (AD 6th-7th century), which were influenced by the arts of Central and Western Asia. Grapes became a more popular motif in the Tang dynasty, when, again under western influences, they regularly appeared, for example, as part of the ubiquitous ‘lion and grape’ motif on bronze mirrors. However, grapes do not seem to appear as decorative motifs on painted ceramics until the Yuan dynasty, and began to gain popularity as a motif on blue and white porcelain in the early 15th century. The motif continued to be used in the Qing dynasty, sometimes accompanied by squirrels. The single bunch of grapes that appear on each side of the present bowl is very unusual and the inspiration for the design is unknown.
Grapes are recorded as having been brought to China from Central Asia by Zhang Qian, an envoy of Emperor Wudi, when he returned to China in 128 BC. Both green and black grapes are recorded as being grown in China by the beginning of the 6th century AD, and there is even a seedless variety mentioned in texts from the Song dynasty. By the early 15th century many different varieties of grape were grown. The grapes were eaten fresh, as well as dried in the form of raisins, but do not seem to have been used to make wine until the Tang dynasty. Grapes rarely appeared as decoration on Chinese art objects of the early period, with the exception of those depicted in relief on pilgrim flasks of the period Six Dynasties-Sui dynasty (AD 6th-7th century), which were influenced by the arts of Central and Western Asia. Grapes became a more popular motif in the Tang dynasty, when, again under western influences, they regularly appeared, for example, as part of the ubiquitous ‘lion and grape’ motif on bronze mirrors. However, grapes do not seem to appear as decorative motifs on painted ceramics until the Yuan dynasty, and began to gain popularity as a motif on blue and white porcelain in the early 15th century. The motif continued to be used in the Qing dynasty, sometimes accompanied by squirrels. The single bunch of grapes that appear on each side of the present bowl is very unusual and the inspiration for the design is unknown.