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Lot Essay
The moulded mark on the base reading 'for the appreciation of the Emperor Kangxi’ is characteristic of the bowls and dishes made of natural gourds during the Kangxi reign. The growing of decorative gourd vessels was a particular interest of the Emperor Kangxi. Indeed, his grandson, the Emperor Qianlong, wrote a poem in praise of a gourd bowl grown by the Emperor Kangxi himself and bearing on its base an inscription reading 'Made by the Kangxi Emperor'. The poem describes how the Kangxi emperor grew gourds in an area of the special experimental plots he had set aside in the Imperial West Garden for the cultivation of improved strains of rice.
Several moulded gourd vessels with the same moulded mark as the present lot are illustrated by Wang Shixiang, The Charms of the Gourd, Hong Kong, 1993: a bowl with petal-moulded sides and a bowl moulded with shou medallions, both with black lacquer interior painted with gold decoration bearing the same Kangxi four-character mark, p. 73, figs. 4 and 5, and a pair of plain dishes with black lacquer interiors, p. 185, pl. 6. Additionally, compare to a similarly moulded gourd bowl bearing the same mark from the family collection of General Joseph W. Stilwell (1883-1946), sold at Christie’s New York, 22-23 March 2018, lot 971.
Several moulded gourd vessels with the same moulded mark as the present lot are illustrated by Wang Shixiang, The Charms of the Gourd, Hong Kong, 1993: a bowl with petal-moulded sides and a bowl moulded with shou medallions, both with black lacquer interior painted with gold decoration bearing the same Kangxi four-character mark, p. 73, figs. 4 and 5, and a pair of plain dishes with black lacquer interiors, p. 185, pl. 6. Additionally, compare to a similarly moulded gourd bowl bearing the same mark from the family collection of General Joseph W. Stilwell (1883-1946), sold at Christie’s New York, 22-23 March 2018, lot 971.