.jpg?w=1)
Lot Essay
Born in Shandong in 160 BC, Dongfang Shuo answered an Imperial proclamation in 138 BC requiring able men to come forward and enter government service. There are many famous tales about Shuo, one of the most famous concerning the time he stole and ate some magical peaches from the orchard of Xiwangmu, Queen Mother of the West. The peaches were said to ripen only once every 3,000 years, and anyone who ate of the fruit achieved immortality.
Here, Shuo is depicted as a stocky figure, with muscular forearms and confident smile, poised on a clump of enormous peaches. His hair is extremely well carved, with bold lines that add a strong textural counterpoint to the plain robes, which are convincingly rendered. In every sense this bottle is the work of a sculptor working confidently with his material.
This is one of the finest of a small and rare group of mid- to late-Qing porcelain bottles of this subject, some in biscuit, and some with additional enamels. A very similar bottle, also in biscuit porcelain and apparently by the same maker is in the Metropolitan Museum of Art, acquired in 1921. Another, with additional enamels, was in the Hunter Collection (Sotheby's, New York, 15 September 1998, lot 168), and is now in the Bloch Collection.
Here, Shuo is depicted as a stocky figure, with muscular forearms and confident smile, poised on a clump of enormous peaches. His hair is extremely well carved, with bold lines that add a strong textural counterpoint to the plain robes, which are convincingly rendered. In every sense this bottle is the work of a sculptor working confidently with his material.
This is one of the finest of a small and rare group of mid- to late-Qing porcelain bottles of this subject, some in biscuit, and some with additional enamels. A very similar bottle, also in biscuit porcelain and apparently by the same maker is in the Metropolitan Museum of Art, acquired in 1921. Another, with additional enamels, was in the Hunter Collection (Sotheby's, New York, 15 September 1998, lot 168), and is now in the Bloch Collection.