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Lot Essay
This impressive vessel belongs to a group of large, sturdily potted jardinières decorated in underglaze blue and overglaze enamels in doucai style. Like others of this group, the jardinière is inscribed with a Kangxi six-character mark beneath the everted, flattened rim. The decoration is characteristically painterly in its approach, and the figures of female immortals in seascapes are skilfully depicted. James Watt, has noted that while the decoration on these Kangxi doucai jardinières is similar to that on some Transitional wares, the drawing is much finer and more detailed, and the figural and floral imagery are popular representations taken from painting manuals and woodblock printed pattern books ( Possessing the Past: Treasures from the National Palace Museum, Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, 1996, p. 505, pl. 289). Certainly the depictions of female immortals riding mythological creatures and a white elephant through the waves on the current jardinière are particularly well composed and delicately executed.
A hexagonal Kangxi doucai jardinière, standing on four cloud-shaped feet, rather than the continuous base of the current example, is in the collection of the Nanjing Museum and illustrated in The Official Kiln Porcelain of the Chinese Qing Dynasty, Shanghai wenhua chubanshe, 2003, pp. 94-5. The decoration on this jardiniere depicts male immortals. Another hexagonal Kangxi doucai jardinière in the collection of the National Palace Museum, Taipei, bears similar decoration and shares the Nanjing vessels cloud-shaped feet (illustrated in Possessing the Past: Treasures from the National Palace Museum, op. cit., p. 505, pl. 289). A very similar elongated hexagonal doucai jardinière, also with decoration depicting male immortals, is in the Qing Court collection, in the Palace Museum, Beijing, illustrated in The Complete Collection of Treasures of the Palace Museum - 38 - Porcelains in Polychrome and Contrasting Colours, Commercial Press, Hong Kong, 1999, pl. 192. This jardinière has the same continuous base as the current example, rather than the cloud-shaped feet of the Nanjing and Taipei vessels. Another related Kangxi doucai jardinière of rectangular form, with figures in landscape, in the Chang Foundation is illustrated in Selected Chinese Ceramics from the Han to Qing Dynasties, Chang Foundation, Taiwan, 1990, pl. 118. It is interesting to note that while several examples of Kangxi doucai jardinières depicting male immortals are known, examples, like the current vessel, with female immortals are much rarer, despite the fact that female immortals were a popular subject for fine famille verte porcelains in the Kangxi reign.
The theme of male immortals is also found on two pairs of octagonal jardinières - the first sold in our Hong Kong Rooms, 30 October 1995, lot 743; and the second pair sold in our New York Rooms, 21 September 2000, lot 358.
A hexagonal Kangxi doucai jardinière, standing on four cloud-shaped feet, rather than the continuous base of the current example, is in the collection of the Nanjing Museum and illustrated in The Official Kiln Porcelain of the Chinese Qing Dynasty, Shanghai wenhua chubanshe, 2003, pp. 94-5. The decoration on this jardiniere depicts male immortals. Another hexagonal Kangxi doucai jardinière in the collection of the National Palace Museum, Taipei, bears similar decoration and shares the Nanjing vessels cloud-shaped feet (illustrated in Possessing the Past: Treasures from the National Palace Museum, op. cit., p. 505, pl. 289). A very similar elongated hexagonal doucai jardinière, also with decoration depicting male immortals, is in the Qing Court collection, in the Palace Museum, Beijing, illustrated in The Complete Collection of Treasures of the Palace Museum - 38 - Porcelains in Polychrome and Contrasting Colours, Commercial Press, Hong Kong, 1999, pl. 192. This jardinière has the same continuous base as the current example, rather than the cloud-shaped feet of the Nanjing and Taipei vessels. Another related Kangxi doucai jardinière of rectangular form, with figures in landscape, in the Chang Foundation is illustrated in Selected Chinese Ceramics from the Han to Qing Dynasties, Chang Foundation, Taiwan, 1990, pl. 118. It is interesting to note that while several examples of Kangxi doucai jardinières depicting male immortals are known, examples, like the current vessel, with female immortals are much rarer, despite the fact that female immortals were a popular subject for fine famille verte porcelains in the Kangxi reign.
The theme of male immortals is also found on two pairs of octagonal jardinières - the first sold in our Hong Kong Rooms, 30 October 1995, lot 743; and the second pair sold in our New York Rooms, 21 September 2000, lot 358.