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Lot Essay
Previously sold, illustrated as a group of six Kangxi 'birthday' dishes, in our London Rooms, 12 December 1977, lot 201.
Compare this same 'eagle' pattern designed on a plate from the Barbara Hutton and Jingguantang Collections, sold in these Rooms, 3 November 1996, lot 586.
The present example together with the 'insect' plate offered in the preceding lot, are said to have been made as part of a service to celebrate the 60th birthday of the Emperor Kangxi in 1713. It appears that a varied number of designs were commissioned as part of the service. Two examples from the Percival David Foundation are illustrated by R. E. Scott, Elegant Form and Harmonious Decoration, p. 115, no. 124 and p. 116, no. 126: a dish decorated with a pair of mandarin ducks swimming in a lotus pond; and a bird perched on an apricot tree, respectively. Slightly varied versions of the Percival David plates are illustrated, Oriental Ceramics, Kodansha Series, vol. 7, col. pl. 35, depicting swimming mandarin ducks from the Musée Guimet; and in the Museum of Far Eastern Antiquities, Stockholm, featuring a bird perched on a fruiting peach branch, illustrated op. cit., vol. 9, col. pl. 88.
Compare also the 'geese' pattern of this same group of plates from the Jingguantang Collection, sold in these Rooms, 3 November 1996, lot 587.
Compare this same 'eagle' pattern designed on a plate from the Barbara Hutton and Jingguantang Collections, sold in these Rooms, 3 November 1996, lot 586.
The present example together with the 'insect' plate offered in the preceding lot, are said to have been made as part of a service to celebrate the 60th birthday of the Emperor Kangxi in 1713. It appears that a varied number of designs were commissioned as part of the service. Two examples from the Percival David Foundation are illustrated by R. E. Scott, Elegant Form and Harmonious Decoration, p. 115, no. 124 and p. 116, no. 126: a dish decorated with a pair of mandarin ducks swimming in a lotus pond; and a bird perched on an apricot tree, respectively. Slightly varied versions of the Percival David plates are illustrated, Oriental Ceramics, Kodansha Series, vol. 7, col. pl. 35, depicting swimming mandarin ducks from the Musée Guimet; and in the Museum of Far Eastern Antiquities, Stockholm, featuring a bird perched on a fruiting peach branch, illustrated op. cit., vol. 9, col. pl. 88.
Compare also the 'geese' pattern of this same group of plates from the Jingguantang Collection, sold in these Rooms, 3 November 1996, lot 587.