A BLUE AND WHITE RECTANGULAR TRAY

JIAQING SIX-CHARACTER MARK AND OF THE PERIOD

Details
A BLUE AND WHITE RECTANGULAR TRAY
jiaqing six-character mark and of the period
Painted at the centre with two figures under an umbrella on a bridge in a mountainous landscape beside pine trees and buildings below an eight-line inscription and seal, fruiting branches at the sides, the exterior with cartouches depicting the 'Three Friends of Winter', pine, prunus and bamboo, reserved on a key-fret pattern ground, the spur-marked underside with four low bracket feet
14½in. (37cm.) wide
Exhibited
S. Marchant and Son, Exhibition of Nineteenth Century Mark and Period Porcelain, 1991, illustrated in the Catalogue, no.3.

Lot Essay

The inscription may be translated: 'Beside a river I pause for a while with my sleeves hanging down around my hands. I stand idly in a field and have not yet released the hawk. Behind the roof of a boat are the Western Mountains, the way back is short. Waiting for someone I stand in front of the Grass Hall.'
Signed: 'The Master of the Bamboo Forest.'
Seal: Zhulin, 'Bamboo Forest'.

This object derives somewhat from the late Ming, Tianqi period ko-sometsuke tea ceremony wares. Their relatively heavy potting and free decoration were much appreciated by the Japanese, and this piece harks back to the tea ceremony wares of this period. The use of spurs for this class of wares is widespread, probably because they lent support to the often cumbersome shapes in the kiln.
Compare the Tianqi-marked dish illustrated in Transitional Wares for the Japanese and Domestic Market, Marchant and Son, 1989, Catalogue, no.18, and see the discussion on p.3; and also the unmarked trays of differing shapes illustrated by M.Kawahara in Ko-sometsuke, (colour section) nos.70,73,74.

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