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Lot Essay
The motifs on the present bowl are based on one of the rarest and most ingenious designs for imperial porcelain created during Yongzheng period. The exterior is exquisitely painted with five circular medallions, each remarkably rendered without an enclosing border. Within these roundels, seemingly disparate motifs—flower buds, petaled blossoms, and the outstretched wings of butterflies—are ingeniously combined to form a coherent design. The result is spontaneous and deliberate, testifying to the extraordinary refinement and pictorial intelligence that was cultivated at the Yongzheng imperial kilns, and admired through later periods.
The butterfly was a favored motif in Chinese decorative arts, admired not only for its graceful form but also for its auspicious meanings. As a rebus, the butterfly, die 蝶, may suggest the multiplication 疊 or “doubling” of good wishes, and, through its association with the phrase maodie 耄耋, also conveys blessings for longevity, particularly the attainment of advanced age. The use of butterfly roundels became especially popular during the Qing period and was used in a range of media. It is seen with particular brilliance in porcelain and silk: in the latter, the motif appears most delicately embroidered on satin court robes, for an example, see R. Scott, “Joined Colours: Decoration and Meaning in Chinese Porcelain,” Transactions of the Oriental Ceramic Society, vol. 58, 1993–1994, p. 71, fig. 5.
For a related Yongzheng mark-and-period 'butterfly medallion' bowl, see Anthology of Chinese Art - Min Chiu Society Silver Jubilee Exhibition, Hong Kong, 1985, no. 185, later sold at Christie’s Hong Kong, 30 April 2000, lot 588. Other Yongzheng-period butterfly bowls include an example from the Baur Collection, illustrated in Sekai Toji Zenshu, vol. 15, no. 206, and another in the Palace Museum, Beijing, illustrated in Gugong cang chuanshi ciqi zhenyan duibi: Lidai guyaozhi biaoben tulu (Genuine and Imitation Ceramics in the Palace Museum Collection, with Specimens from Historical Kiln Sites), 1998, p. 212, no. 190, where the author also illustrates a Yongzheng porcelain bowl with Republic-period enamels, p. 213, no. 191, further attesting to the continued admiration for this design in later periods.
The butterfly was a favored motif in Chinese decorative arts, admired not only for its graceful form but also for its auspicious meanings. As a rebus, the butterfly, die 蝶, may suggest the multiplication 疊 or “doubling” of good wishes, and, through its association with the phrase maodie 耄耋, also conveys blessings for longevity, particularly the attainment of advanced age. The use of butterfly roundels became especially popular during the Qing period and was used in a range of media. It is seen with particular brilliance in porcelain and silk: in the latter, the motif appears most delicately embroidered on satin court robes, for an example, see R. Scott, “Joined Colours: Decoration and Meaning in Chinese Porcelain,” Transactions of the Oriental Ceramic Society, vol. 58, 1993–1994, p. 71, fig. 5.
For a related Yongzheng mark-and-period 'butterfly medallion' bowl, see Anthology of Chinese Art - Min Chiu Society Silver Jubilee Exhibition, Hong Kong, 1985, no. 185, later sold at Christie’s Hong Kong, 30 April 2000, lot 588. Other Yongzheng-period butterfly bowls include an example from the Baur Collection, illustrated in Sekai Toji Zenshu, vol. 15, no. 206, and another in the Palace Museum, Beijing, illustrated in Gugong cang chuanshi ciqi zhenyan duibi: Lidai guyaozhi biaoben tulu (Genuine and Imitation Ceramics in the Palace Museum Collection, with Specimens from Historical Kiln Sites), 1998, p. 212, no. 190, where the author also illustrates a Yongzheng porcelain bowl with Republic-period enamels, p. 213, no. 191, further attesting to the continued admiration for this design in later periods.