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Lot Essay
During the Empress Dowager Cixi’s tenure as Regent to her son, Emperor Tongzhi, she mostly resided in the six palaces located in the northwestern sector of the Forbidden City, one of which being the Tihedian (Hall of Manifest Harmony). Special porcelains were commissioned by the Empress Dowager and produced specifically for several of these palaces from the Tongzhi or early Guangxu period, many of which bearing the name of their destination, as is the case of the present lot. For a discussion on these porcelains, refer to two articles by Ronald W. Longsdorf, ‘Dayazhai Ware: Empress Dowager Porcelain’, Orientations, March 1992, p. 56 and ‘The Imperial Tongzhi Wedding Porcelain’, Orientations, October 1996, pp. 67-70.
Compare to two pairs of jardinières also bearing iron-red Tihedian zhi marks: a pair of larger rounded jardinières (50.8 cm. diam.) from the Northrop Grumman Corporation Collection, sold at Christie’s New York, 15-16 September 2011, lot 1599, and a pair of smaller size (13 cm.) sold at Christie’s Paris, 14 December 2011, lot 209. See further similar pairs with Dayazhai marks from the Studio of the Clear Garden sold at Christie’s New York, 22 March 2018, lot 617, and a pair from the collection of Ronald W. Longsdorf, sold at Christie’s Hong Kong, 3 December 2008, lot 2201.
Compare to two pairs of jardinières also bearing iron-red Tihedian zhi marks: a pair of larger rounded jardinières (50.8 cm. diam.) from the Northrop Grumman Corporation Collection, sold at Christie’s New York, 15-16 September 2011, lot 1599, and a pair of smaller size (13 cm.) sold at Christie’s Paris, 14 December 2011, lot 209. See further similar pairs with Dayazhai marks from the Studio of the Clear Garden sold at Christie’s New York, 22 March 2018, lot 617, and a pair from the collection of Ronald W. Longsdorf, sold at Christie’s Hong Kong, 3 December 2008, lot 2201.