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Lot Essay
The design of the present basin is exceptionally rare, and it is uncommon to find Jiaqing-period wares featuring such a colourful and auspicious motif. A pair of similar jars and covers with the same design, from the Alfred Morrison Collection, was sold at Christie’s London, 9 November 2004, lot 44. A single jar and cover with this motif, from a French collection, was sold at Sotheby’s Hong Kong, 8 April 2007, lot 501.
The combination of butterflies and gourds is a popular decorative theme on Chinese enamelled wares; see, for example, a Jiaqing doucai vase in The Complete Collection of Treasures of the Palace Museum: Porcelains in Polychrome and Contrasting Colours, Hong Kong, 1999, pl. 262; a sky-blue-ground meiping, more sparingly decorated with butterflies and melons, with the melons painted in iron-red and green, in the Shanghai Museum, illustrated in Chugoku Toji Zenshu, vol. 21, Shanghai, 1981, pl. 125.
In Chinese symbolism, the butterfly (die) and gourd (gua) together represent the wish for many sons and grandsons (guadie mianmian). The thousands of seeds within the gourds symbolize the desire for unbroken generations.
The combination of butterflies and gourds is a popular decorative theme on Chinese enamelled wares; see, for example, a Jiaqing doucai vase in The Complete Collection of Treasures of the Palace Museum: Porcelains in Polychrome and Contrasting Colours, Hong Kong, 1999, pl. 262; a sky-blue-ground meiping, more sparingly decorated with butterflies and melons, with the melons painted in iron-red and green, in the Shanghai Museum, illustrated in Chugoku Toji Zenshu, vol. 21, Shanghai, 1981, pl. 125.
In Chinese symbolism, the butterfly (die) and gourd (gua) together represent the wish for many sons and grandsons (guadie mianmian). The thousands of seeds within the gourds symbolize the desire for unbroken generations.