A VERY RARE BLUE AND WHITE ‘DRAGON AND PHOENIX’ SHALLOW BOWL
A VERY RARE BLUE AND WHITE ‘DRAGON AND PHOENIX’ SHALLOW BOWL
A VERY RARE BLUE AND WHITE ‘DRAGON AND PHOENIX’ SHALLOW BOWL
A VERY RARE BLUE AND WHITE ‘DRAGON AND PHOENIX’ SHALLOW BOWL
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COURT, STUDIO, ATELIERART OF THE MID TO LATE MING DYNASTYDuring the latter part of the Ming Dynasty, Chinese society underwent dramatic changes. The three emperors of this period: Jiajing, Longqing and Wanli, were in constant power struggles with the bureaucratic class led by the scholar officials. Theoretically the Emperor wielded supreme power but they were alone in their battles against the massed numbers of officials, and each side claimed victories in the numerous conflicts that ensued. After countless demotions, court floggings and executions, there were some notable outcomes: the Jiajing Emperor turned his attention in search of longevity, elixir making, and stopped court audiences for a duration of over 20 years of his reign; the Longqing Emperor, in his pursuit of carnal pleasures died prematurely after six years on the throne; while the Wanli Emperor, after a prolonged dispute with his courtiers regarding the choice of his heir, also stopped court audiences for a lengthy period of 28 years. These three emperors all had a great start in their reigns, in particular the Wanli Emperor, whose first chief minister Zhang Juzheng ushered in a period of prosperity unrivalled by any of his predecessors in the dynasty. These early achievements could be glimpsed by the three fine imperial works of art offered in the present sale – lot 8101 is an early Jiajing blue and white bowl with a fine body and lustrous glaze, the delicate painting recalls that of the Chenghua porcelain; lot 8102 is a large Longqing-marked blue and white dragon basin, and the epitome of the Longqing kiln, with powerfully painted dragons and intense cobalt blue reminiscent of the Xuande period; lot 8103 is a Wanli-marked cinnabar lacquer ‘dragon’ brush, a rare example of imperial scholar’s object, exemplifying the best work from the Imperial lacquer workshop at the time. Lot 8104, the fan painting by Qiu Ying and lot 8105 the long scroll depicting The Everlasting Regret by You Qiu, are two fine examples of court-style paintings of the period.The absence of the emperor caused many problems but it did not cause the collapse of the dynasty owing to the massive bureaucratic mechanism that kept the country running. On the contrary, the decline of imperial control meant that the economy was free to develop more organically, and society became much more diversified contributing to the emergence of a golden period in which cultural activities flourished. The ‘School of Mind’ promulgated by Wang Shouren freed the literati class from the shackles of the ‘School of Principles’, a school of thought which by that time had been dominant for five hundred years. The ‘School of Mind’ led to an inward exploration of thoughts and a new aesthetic that emphasised unadulterated self-expression. Lot 8110 is a letter written by Wang discussing the ‘School of Mind’. Rarely appearing on the market, his handwriting is a clear proof of the philosophical transformation taking place amongst the literati during this period. Driven by their frustration of life in officialdom, while at the same time immersed in unprecedented material wealth, the literati in the Jiangnan region devoted most of their energy and creativity in painting, calligraphy and poetry. These artists, led by Shen Zhou, Wen Zhengming and their contemporaries such as Zhu Yunming (lot 8106), as well as their successors, such as Lan Ying (lot 8116) and Chen Hongshou (lot 8115), became the tastemakers of the day. Chen Hongshou in particular was deeply influenced by the ‘School of Mind’ and created works of great individuality and unique style. The handscroll (Lot 8115) is a very rare example of flower painting by him, and it is very interesting to compare his style to that of Shen Zhou’s painting of a similar subject-matter (lot 8108). The literati in the Jiangnan area also influenced the design and making of objects in their daily lives, especially furniture in the scholar’s studio, preferring elegant lines and proportions. Lot 8109 the huanghuali painting table and lot 8120 the huanghuali chair are two such examples produced by the workshops in Suzhou. Their elegant proportions and graceful lines are typical of the literati style, very different to the pair of huanghuali compound cabinets from the Beijing workshops, lot 8113, which are notable for their generous use of material, square form and impressive size.The promulgation of the ‘School of Mind’ and the buoyant market economy helped to remove the boundaries between literati-artists and artisans that have existed for thousands of years. Many artisans began signing names on their works, while their social status began to rise. Names like Hu Wenming, the renowned bronze maker (lot 8117), and He Chaozong, master of porcelain sculpture (lot 8120), were celebrated names, their works inspiring countless imitations. The cultural developments in this period were multifarious, and whether in painting, calligraphy or other works of art there were many notable achievements, surpassing the Western Renaissance of the same period. It could be suggested that the latter Ming period was indeed a golden period in China’s cultural history.THE PROPERTY OF A GENTLEMAN
A VERY RARE BLUE AND WHITE ‘DRAGON AND PHOENIX’ SHALLOW BOWL

JIAJING SIX-CHARACTER MARK IN UNDERGLAZE BLUE WITHIN A DOUBLE CIRCLE AND OF THE PERIOD (1522-1566)

细节
A VERY RARE BLUE AND WHITE ‘DRAGON AND PHOENIX’ SHALLOW BOWL
JIAJING SIX-CHARACTER MARK IN UNDERGLAZE BLUE WITHIN A DOUBLE CIRCLE AND OF THE PERIOD (1522-1566)
The bowl is delicately potted with shallow rounded sides resting on a slightly recessed base. The interior is exquisitely painted with a roundel of a striding five-clawed dragon and phoenix in flight amid leafy lotus and floral scrolls, the exterior is painted in a similar fashion within double-line borders beneath the rounded rim and above the unglazed foot.
5 7/16 in. (13.8 cm.) diam.
来源
Joe Yuey, San Francisco
Bluett, London
Sold at Christie’s New York, 17 September 2010, lot 1368

荣誉呈献

Stephenie Tsoi
Stephenie Tsoi

拍品专文

The current bowl belongs to a group of porcelain made by the imperial kilns during the early Jiajing period that was closely modelled after Chenghua ceramics. The imitation reflected a delicate time in history when the Jiajing Emperor and his court were engaged in a political conflict known as the Great Rites Controversy. The Jiajing Emperor had succeeded his first cousin the Zhengde Emperor after the latter bore no children and his father the Hongzhi Emperor did not leave any surviving children either. According to tradition, the Jiajing Emperor was advised to be posthumously adopted by his late uncle who had been dead for more than two decades, but instead he insisted that his own biological father, the fourth son of the Chenghua Emperor and the younger brother of the Hongzhi Emperor be posthumously declared emperor, thus claiming his legitimacy through his biological father instead of his paternal uncle.

The Emperor’s personal preference may have extended to the production at the imperial kilns, giving rise to porcelains such as the current bowl that closely emulated those of the Chenghua reign, not only for their remarkable quality, but also to assert the Emperor’s legitimacy by making a direct connection with the Chenghua Emperor.

Shallow bowls such as the present type were used as altar vessels for Buddhist rituals during the Chenghua period. All the surviving examples from the Chenghua period are painted with floral motifs and appear in three sizes, the smallest measure approx. 10.2 cm. and are painted with pomegranate scroll, the second smallest measure approx. 12 cm. with lotus scroll, and the largest measure approx. 13.7 cm. with floral medallions, see Blue and White Porcelain with Underglaze Red (II), The Complete Collection of Treasures of the Palace Museum, Hong Kong, 2000, pp. 27-29, nos. 25-27 (fig. 1).

The Jiajing examples remain true to their Chenghua prototype in terms of potting, glaze, and the painting style, see for example, a Jiajing-marked shallow bowl painted with floral medallions in the Palace Museum, Beijing, illustrated in ibid., p. 157, no. 146 (fig. 2), which is hardly distinguishable from its prototype. The Jiajing repertoire expands beyond floral motifs, and in addition to dragon and phoenix seen on the current bowl, there are motifs such as children at play, dragons pursuing flaming pearls, and phoenix among others. For a description of the different motifs on Jiajing shallow bowls housed in the National Palace Museum, Taipei, see Gugong ciqilu, vol. 2, Ming (2-2), Taipei, 1961, pp. 139-142. It is worthy of note from the 1925 inventory number noted in the catalogue that the ‘dragon and phoenix’ bowls were housed in the Jingyang Palace in the Forbidden City, where a number of Chenghua porcelain including the palace bowls, ‘boys’ bowls were also kept.

For an almost identical example in the National Palace Museum, Taipei, see Chia-ching Ware Lung-ch’ing Ware Wanli Ware, Taipei, 1978, no. 17 (fig. 3); and an example with dragons in pursuit of flaming pearls, in the same institution, see Catalogue of the Special Exhibition of Cheng-hua Porcelain Ware, Taipei, 2003, p. 74, no. 48 (fig. 4).

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