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Lot Essay
The characters read xi bao chun kui (magpies portend the arrival of early signs of Spring). These dishes would therefore be appropriate for a New Year tea ceremony, where the allusion to plum blossom would be very recognizable.
Compare a similar example in the Tokyo National Museum illustrated in the Catalogue of Chinese Ceramics, 1965, p. 115, no. 478, and another illustrated in The Effie B. Allison Collection: Ko-sometsuke and other Chinese Blue-and-White Porcelain, Asian Art Museum of San Francisco, March - June 1982, no. 36, and discussed by the author in the article, "Chinese Ceramics for the Japanese Tea Masters," Arts of Asia, March - April 1987. See, also, the example from The Peony Pavilion Collection, sold at Christie's London, 12 June 1989, lot 222, and front cover illustration.
Compare a similar example in the Tokyo National Museum illustrated in the Catalogue of Chinese Ceramics, 1965, p. 115, no. 478, and another illustrated in The Effie B. Allison Collection: Ko-sometsuke and other Chinese Blue-and-White Porcelain, Asian Art Museum of San Francisco, March - June 1982, no. 36, and discussed by the author in the article, "Chinese Ceramics for the Japanese Tea Masters," Arts of Asia, March - April 1987. See, also, the example from The Peony Pavilion Collection, sold at Christie's London, 12 June 1989, lot 222, and front cover illustration.