Lot Essay
Examples of large 'peach' dishes are found in important collections around world, all with varying composition of the same elements: two branching trees rising from the foot to emerge over the rim, fruiting ripe peaches and a scattering of bats in flight. The imagery of the design is considered most auspicious as peaches are a symbol of immortality and the five bats, wufu, produces a homophon for the Five Blessings; these being long life, wealth, peace, love of virture and a good end to one's life. The painting style was probably influenced by textile design and flower painting of the Yongzheng period.
This group of dishes represent the art of Yongzheng ceramic potting and enamelling at its zenith. Pink enamel was introduced to China by Jesuit missionaries who arrived at the imperial court during the late Kangxi period and was first used at the Palace workshops to decorate metal wares before it was 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.
A similar large dish is in the Percival David Foundation illustrated by Scott, Percival David Foundation of Chinese Art, p. 106, no. 111, where the author notes the significance in subtle blending of white, pink and green enamels to produce a gradation of colours. The handling of the enamels and the treatment of the motifs can also be compared to similar dishes but with fewer flower blossoms, one from the Frederick J. and Antoinette H. Van Slyke Collection, sold in New York, 31 May 1989, lot 209; the other sold in these Rooms, 1 May 1994, lot 675.
There is a group of smaller, finely potted dishes with a comparable theme. 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, illustrated in Oriental Ceramics, The World's Great Collections, Kodansha Series, vol. 5, col. pl. 67; and another dish illustrated in Handbook of the Mr. and Mrs. John D. Rockefeller 3rd Collection, pl. 82.
(US$150,000-230,000)
This group of dishes represent the art of Yongzheng ceramic potting and enamelling at its zenith. Pink enamel was introduced to China by Jesuit missionaries who arrived at the imperial court during the late Kangxi period and was first used at the Palace workshops to decorate metal wares before it was 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.
A similar large dish is in the Percival David Foundation illustrated by Scott, Percival David Foundation of Chinese Art, p. 106, no. 111, where the author notes the significance in subtle blending of white, pink and green enamels to produce a gradation of colours. The handling of the enamels and the treatment of the motifs can also be compared to similar dishes but with fewer flower blossoms, one from the Frederick J. and Antoinette H. Van Slyke Collection, sold in New York, 31 May 1989, lot 209; the other sold in these Rooms, 1 May 1994, lot 675.
There is a group of smaller, finely potted dishes with a comparable theme. 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, illustrated in Oriental Ceramics, The World's Great Collections, Kodansha Series, vol. 5, col. pl. 67; and another dish illustrated in Handbook of the Mr. and Mrs. John D. Rockefeller 3rd Collection, pl. 82.
(US$150,000-230,000)