EARLY KANGXI

Details

A blue and white 'Master of the Rocks' deep bowl
Early Kangxi
Painted to the exterior with 'The Master of the Rocks' design showing a figure in a pavilion looking out on a winter river landscape and another figure seated on a rock, the interior decorated with a central double-line roundel depicting a solitary figure sitting on a riverbank, the rim encircled by a band of pine needles, small rim cracks and restorations
18.6 cm. diam.

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Lot Essay

'Master of the Rocks' is a term used for this type of drawing on early Kangxi porcelain. It has been suggested it was the work of one master decorator, although numerous known diversions of this style indicate it must have been executed by different hands. The style is characterised by repeated close-knit lines defining the landscape elements. Often the strange rock masses and twisting rhythm running through the design call strongly to mind the painting style of Dong Qichang, a painter of the later Ming period whose influence was widespread.

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