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拍品专文
For a Qianlong-marked porcelain vase painted with a similar subject of 'paired-birds' see, Christie's, Los Angeles, Myth and Reality: Animals in Chinese Art, 7 May 1999, lot 75.
A likely source of inspiration for that vase, and possibly even this particular bottle, was the Ming dynasty court painting by Bian Wenjin, The Three Friends of Winter and One Hundred Birds, Fong and Watt eds., The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, 1996, p. 340, pl. 165. A prized possession of the Qianlong emperor, as testified by his numerous seals, this painting would have been available to artists working at the imperial workshops (Zaoban Chu) in the Forbidden City. Bian, one of the early Ming masters of flower-and-birds paintings, used the 'three friends', bamboo, pine and prunus as the symbols of integrity, loyalty and friendship, growing out of a rock that provided a shelter for the 'one hundred birds'. According to Barnhart, the artist uses a 'variety of birds of all colors, sizes, and shapes that function also as metaphors of human society. In this metaphor sparrows are the common people, and the more colorful, larger birds suggest the aristocracy.'
The pairs of birds include the male and female phoenix, probably symbolizing the emperor and empress, as well as a variety of others representing the social spectrum. Birds were also used to denote social hierarchy on Qing rank badges. A different species of bird - whether the crane, peacock, golden or silver pheasant, egret, quail, or mandarin duck - represented a distinct position in the civil service.
In addition to the overall symbolism of the vase, where the natural world functions as a metaphor for human society and life, many of the birds depicted carry their own symbolism in the Chinese decoarative arts. Cranes, for example, are a commonly employed motif for longevity, particularly in association with pine; mandarin ducks are symbolic of marital fidelity.
A likely source of inspiration for that vase, and possibly even this particular bottle, was the Ming dynasty court painting by Bian Wenjin, The Three Friends of Winter and One Hundred Birds, Fong and Watt eds., The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, 1996, p. 340, pl. 165. A prized possession of the Qianlong emperor, as testified by his numerous seals, this painting would have been available to artists working at the imperial workshops (Zaoban Chu) in the Forbidden City. Bian, one of the early Ming masters of flower-and-birds paintings, used the 'three friends', bamboo, pine and prunus as the symbols of integrity, loyalty and friendship, growing out of a rock that provided a shelter for the 'one hundred birds'. According to Barnhart, the artist uses a 'variety of birds of all colors, sizes, and shapes that function also as metaphors of human society. In this metaphor sparrows are the common people, and the more colorful, larger birds suggest the aristocracy.'
The pairs of birds include the male and female phoenix, probably symbolizing the emperor and empress, as well as a variety of others representing the social spectrum. Birds were also used to denote social hierarchy on Qing rank badges. A different species of bird - whether the crane, peacock, golden or silver pheasant, egret, quail, or mandarin duck - represented a distinct position in the civil service.
In addition to the overall symbolism of the vase, where the natural world functions as a metaphor for human society and life, many of the birds depicted carry their own symbolism in the Chinese decoarative arts. Cranes, for example, are a commonly employed motif for longevity, particularly in association with pine; mandarin ducks are symbolic of marital fidelity.