A LARGE CORAL RED-GLAZED BOWL

18TH CENTURY

Details

A LARGE CORAL RED-GLAZED BOWL
18TH CENTURY
With rounded sides, the exterior covered with a coral glaze and the interior painted with five iron-red bats, apocryphal Chenghua mark on the base; together with a famille verte dish, 18th/19th century, the interior decorated with a scene of a sleepy young boy holding onto the tunic of a woman carrying a candle as they walk towards a building in which two women spin silk, all below an inscription in gilding and an iron red seal, with a four-character seal mark, Xi chao bo gu, in iron red within a double circle on the base
8¾ and 10 5/8 in. (22.2 and 27 cm.) diam. (2)

Lot Essay

The title of the poem on the famille verte dish may be read, Geng zhi tu ('Painting of planting and weaving'), and the inscription discusses planting and weaving. The seal may be read, luo shi ('making silk').

The poem makes reference to silk-spinning in order to pay tribute to officials who come to press for rent. For a discussion of pieces based on these designs taken from the Yuzhi Gengzhi Tu, see D.T. James, "Narrative Themes on Kangxi Porcelains in the Taft Museum", Orientations, August 1993, pp. 31-6.

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