拍品專文
By the late Middle Ages in Europe the Garden of Eden was thought of as a paradise populated with African and Asian animals, as so famously portrayed by Hieronymous Bosch (1450?-1516) in The Garden of Earthly Delights (now in the Prado, Madrid) where, in the left panel, we see the Garden filled with elephants and giraffes and exotic birds. This bowl's version of the scene may have been based on a European engraving that included the Archangel Gabriel, guardian of Paradise. Perhaps the Chinese painter then added those auspicious beasts more familar to him. Another example of this rare subject was sold Christie's, New York, 23 January 2007, lot 65.