A large blue and white ‘Immortals’ dish, Shunzhi period, circa 1650

Étiquettes

'Immortals' dish, Blue-and-White, circa 1650, Eight Daoist Immortals, four-character mark yu tang jia qi ('beautiful vessel for the Jade Hall'), Shoulao, Shunzhi period

A large blue and white ‘Immortals’ dish, Shunzhi period, circa 1650. Estimate $10,000 – $15,000. Price Realized $27,500. Photo Christie’s Image Ltd 2015

The dish is decorated in the interior with a scene of the Eight Daoist Immortals gathering on a riverbank as the Star God Shoulao sits beneath a pine tree on the opposite bank with a recumbent deer. The base bears a four-character mark yu tang jia qi (‘beautiful vessel for the Jade Hall’), within a double circle. 14 ¼ in. (36 cm.) diam. Lot 3560

Provenance: Sotheby’s London, 19 November 1985, lot 4.
S. Marchant & Son, Ltd., London, 1985.
Collection of Julia and John Curtis.

Notes: Two large dishes of similar proportions, also decorated with the ‘Eight Daoist Immortals’, were illustrated by Michael Butler, Julia B. Curtis and Stephen Little in Shunzhi Porcelain: Treasures from an Unknown Reign, 1644-1661,Alexandria, VA, 2002. The first, from the Butler Family Collection, decorated in the wucai palette (p. 224, no. 75), and the second, from the Collection of Caromy Hoare, decorated in underglaze blue (p. 225, no. 76). Both examples bear the same mark inscribed on this lot, which is noted by Sir Michael Butler to be a commendation or ‘omen’ mark that was popular in the Shunzhi period. The theme can also be found on two other pieces from the Curtis Collection, a large bowl (lot 3559), and a small vase (lot 3564).

Another blue and white example in the Palace Museum, Beijing, is illustrated by Chen Runmin in Selected Chinese Ceramics from the Palace Museum (Volume 1): Blue and White Ceramics in Shunzhi and Kangxi Periods (Qing Shunzhi Kangxi chao qing hua ci), Beijing, 2005, pp. 38-39, no. 17, and also bears the same commendation mark. Another was sold at Christie’s London, 12 May 2009, lot 160.

CHRISTIE’S. AN ERA OF INSPIRATION: 17TH-CENTURY CHINESE PORCELAINS FROM THE COLLECTION OF JULIA AND JOHN CURTIS, 16 March 2015,New York, Rockefeller Plaza

A large blue and white ‘Immortals’ bowl, Shunzhi period, circa 1650

Étiquettes

'fine vessel for the jade hall' mark, 'Immortals' bowl, Blue-and-White, circa 1650, Collection of Julia and John Curtis, four-character mark yu tang jia qi, Shoulao, Shunzhi period

A large blue and white ‘Immortals’ bowl, Shunzhi period, circa 1650. Estimate $12,000 – $18,000. Price Realized $12,500. Photo Christie’s Image Ltd 2015

The shallow bowl is decorated on the exterior with a mountainous river landscape scene including the Eight Daoist Immortals with their attributes beneath swirling clouds, and the Star God Shoulao seated beside a deer and a smoldering censer with an attendant nearby. The interior is decorated with a small landscape medallion. The base bears a large four-character mark reading yu tang jia qi (‘fine vessel for the jade hall’) within a double circle. 14 in. (35.3 cm.) diam. Lot 3559

Provenance: S. Marchant & Son, Ltd., London, 1987.
Collection of Julia and John Curtis.

Notes: A wucai bowl, decorated with the same subject and of similar proportions, also bearing the yu tang jia qi mark, is in the Butler Family Collection and is illustrated by Michael Butler, Julia B. Curtis and Stephen Little in Shunzhi Porcelain: Treasures from an Unknown Reign, 1644-1661, Alexandria, VA, 2002, pp. 222-223, no. 74.

This theme also appears on two other pieces in the Curtis Collection, a large dish (lot 3560), and a small vase (lot 3564).

CHRISTIE’S. AN ERA OF INSPIRATION: 17TH-CENTURY CHINESE PORCELAINS FROM THE COLLECTION OF JULIA AND JOHN CURTIS, 16 March 2015,New York, Rockefeller Plaza

A wucai gu-form vase, Shunzhi period, circa 1650

Étiquettes

circa 1650, Collection of Julia and John Curtis, dragon, gu form vase, Shunzhi period, tiger, wucai

A wucai gu-form vase, Shunzhi period, circa 1650. Estimate $40,000 – $60,000. Price Realized $106,250. Photo Christie’s Image Ltd 2015

The tall slender vase, of cylindrical form flaring toward the mouth, is brightly enameled and decorated on the upper register with a scene set against an iron-red diaper ground, depicting a fierce tiger standing in a blue-wash pool, and a sinuous dragon emerging from clouds above in pursuit of a flaming pearl. The scene is set above a band of flowers and rocks and a lower border of pendent lappets, both set on an iron-red diaper ground. The interior of the mouth is enameled with green and yellow rocks with small iron-red flowers. The flat base is unglazed. 15 ½ in. (39.4 cm.) high – Lot 3549

Provenance: Collection of Uno Ranch, Sweden.
Acquired from S. Marchant & Son, Ltd., 2001.
Collection of Julia and John Curtis.

Notes: Images of the dragon and tiger, two of the Four Divinities in Daoism, are known in China since at least the Zhou dynasty (c. 1050-256 BC). (Stephen Little with Shawn Eichman, Taoism and the Arts of China, Chicago, 2000, p. 130) Representing two of the four cardinal directions, East (dragon) and West (tiger), they also symbolize the elements fire and metal. As explained by Little and Eichman, ibid., “In Taoist chemical alchemy (waidan, or “outer” alchemy), the tiger and dragon also represent two of the most powerful elixir ingredients known, lead and mercury, while in the Inner Alchemy (neidan) tradition, the two animals symbolize yin and yang as they are brought together in the inner (human) body through visualization and transformed to create a divine embryonic form of the practitioner. »

For a blue and white Shunzhi period jar from the Curtis Collection on which these two animals also appear, see lot 3551 in the present catalogue.

CHRISTIE’S. AN ERA OF INSPIRATION: 17TH-CENTURY CHINESE PORCELAINS FROM THE COLLECTION OF JULIA AND JOHN CURTIS, 16 March 2015,New York, Rockefeller Plaza

A very rare incised lavender-glazed vase and cover, Shunzhi period, circa 1650

Étiquettes

circa 1650, Collection of Julia and John Curtis, incised vase and cover, lavender-glazed, Shunzhi period

A very rare incised lavender-glazed vase and cover, Shunzhi period, circa 1650. Estimate $50,000 – $70,000. Price Realized $257,000. Photo Christie’s Image Ltd 2015

The jar, of ovoid form with pronounced shoulders and a short neck, is incised on the body with large blossoming peony branches surrounded by curling leaves and small tendrils, beneath a narrow scroll band and a wider border of freely incised flowers. All but the brown-dressed rim and the unglazed base is covered in a pale lavender-blue glaze. The domed cover, with bud-form finial and everted rim, is incised with similar peony blooms to those on the body of the vase, and is similarly glazed. 15 ¼ in. (38.7 cm.) high. Lot 3549

Provenance: S. Marchant & Son, Ltd, London, 2002.
Collection of Julia and John Curtis.

Literature: Recent Acquisitions, S. Marchant & Son, London, 2003, pp. 42-43, no. 27.

Notes: According to Sir Michael Butler, the lavender-blue-tone glaze seen on the present lot was not used before the Shunzhi period, and was rare even at that time and into the early Kangxi period. (Michael Butler, Julia B. Curtis and Stephen Little, Shunzhi Porcelain: Treasures from an Unknown Reign, 1644-1661, Alexandria, VA, 2002, p. 156). Very few examples of this type have survived. One (without a cover) is in the Butler Family Collection, illustrated ibid., p. 157, no. 41. Another is in the Victoria and Albert Museum, London, gift of Mrs. Walter Bentley, inv. no. c.217-1915. (S. Marchant & Son, Recent Acquisitions, London, 2003, p. 42). The shape is more typically found decorated in the wucai palette.

CHRISTIE’S. AN ERA OF INSPIRATION: 17TH-CENTURY CHINESE PORCELAINS FROM THE COLLECTION OF JULIA AND JOHN CURTIS, 16 March 2015,New York, Rockefeller Plaza

A ‘blanc de Chine’ Guanyin Dehua, circa 1650

Étiquettes

Blanc de Chine, circa 1650, Dehua, Guanyin

A ‘blanc de Chine’ Guanyin Dehua, circa 1650. Estimation : 2 000 € / 3 000 €. Photo AAG

Seated on a rocky throne accompanied by her acolytes Shancai and Longnu, next to her a bird and a vase. H. 23 cm

Literature: Rose Kerr & John Ayers, Blanc de Chine, Porcelain from Dehua, Art Media Resources, Chicago, 2002, fig. 18 for an identical Guanyin in the Phillip Allen collection.

N.B.: The Nieuwe Atlas (edition 1667) by W.J. Blaeu features an engraving of a similar Guanyin in reverse

AAG (ARTS & ANTIQUES GROUP), 06 Octobre 2014. LEKSTRAAT, 1079 EM, AMSTERDAM. Tel:  +31203012950.