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Lot Essay
The principal motif on the present dish is known in Chinese as longma futu 龍馬負圖, “the dragon-horse bearing the Diagram.” It derives from the ancient legend of the Hetu and Luoshu 河圖洛書, or “River Diagram and Luo Writing.” According to tradition, a dragon-horse emerged from the Yellow River bearing a mysterious diagram upon its back, while a divine tortoise appeared from the Luo River with a corresponding pattern upon its shell. These cosmic signs were subsequently associated with Fuxi’s formulation of the Eight Trigrams, bagua 八卦, and, by extension, with the cosmological system embodied in the Yijing, or Book of Changes. The subject therefore evokes divine revelation, sagely rulership and the harmonious ordering of the universe. The exterior of the dish is decorated with turbulent waves and lofty mountain peaks rendered in underglaze blue and green enamel. Mountains rising above the sea may be understood as an allusion to the auspicious expression shoushan fuhai 壽山福海, conveying the wish that longevity may endure like the mountains and blessings extend as boundlessly as the sea. Together with the dragon-horse motif, the decoration forms a richly auspicious iconography celebrating longevity, good fortune and enlightened governance.
A closely related Yongzheng dish in the Palace Museum, Beijing, is illustrated in Porcelains in Polychrome and Contrasting Colours: The Complete Collection of Treasures of the Palace Museum, Hong Kong, 1999, p. 238, no. 218. Another example, formerly in the Edward T. Chow Collection, was sold at Sotheby’s Hong Kong, 19 May 1981, lot 560. A further example was sold at Christie’s Swire, 31 March 1992, lot 619 (Fig. 1) and subsequently illustrated in Porcelaine: Chefs-d’œuvre de la collection Ise, Paris, 2017, pp. 184–5, no. 67. It is noteworthy that both the present dish and the Ise example bear an unusually distinctive six-character Yongzheng mark, written in highly stylized seal script and arranged in three vertical columns within a double circle. This compact and archaistic configuration differs from the more conventional two- or three-column format commonly seen on Yongzheng imperial porcelain, lending the mark an exceptional decorative and emblematic character.
A closely related Yongzheng dish in the Palace Museum, Beijing, is illustrated in Porcelains in Polychrome and Contrasting Colours: The Complete Collection of Treasures of the Palace Museum, Hong Kong, 1999, p. 238, no. 218. Another example, formerly in the Edward T. Chow Collection, was sold at Sotheby’s Hong Kong, 19 May 1981, lot 560. A further example was sold at Christie’s Swire, 31 March 1992, lot 619 (Fig. 1) and subsequently illustrated in Porcelaine: Chefs-d’œuvre de la collection Ise, Paris, 2017, pp. 184–5, no. 67. It is noteworthy that both the present dish and the Ise example bear an unusually distinctive six-character Yongzheng mark, written in highly stylized seal script and arranged in three vertical columns within a double circle. This compact and archaistic configuration differs from the more conventional two- or three-column format commonly seen on Yongzheng imperial porcelain, lending the mark an exceptional decorative and emblematic character.