TIHEDIAN ZHI IRON-RED MARKS IN A LINE, TONGZHI/GUANGXU PERIOD (1862-1908)

The Tihedian (Hall of Manifest Harmony) was one of the six palaces in the northwestern sector of the Forbidden City where the Empress Dowager Cixi lived during much of her tenure as Regent to her son, Emperor Tongzhi (see R. Longsdorf, 'The Imperial Tongzhi Wedding Porcelain', Orientations, October 1996, pp. 67-70). Special porcelains, such as the present examples, were designed and produced for several of these palaces. As such, porcelains were usually marked with names of their palace designation. In another article by R. Longsdorf, 'Dayazhai Ware: Empress Dowager Porcelain', Orientations, March 1992, p. 56, the author writes that such porcelains were produced from the Tongzhi or early Guangxu periods under the supervision of the Empress Dowager Cixi.

Compare a turquoise-ground grisaille-decorated fishbowl in the Chuxiugong (Palace of Concentrated Beauty), Beijing, illustrated in The Forbidden City, Beijing, 1988; and a massive pair of yellow-ground Tihedian-marked jardinières sold in these rooms, 29 November 1984, lot 577.