A large underglaze-blue and copper-red-decorated dish, Early Kangxi period, circa 1670

Étiquettes

circa 1670, Collection of Julia and John Curtis, early Kangxi period, Romance of the Western Chamber, Ten Choice Selections of Song Medleys Elegantly Illustrated, underglaze-blue and copper-red-decorated, Woodblock illustration, Xiuxiang Gelin Shicui

A large underglaze-blue and copper-red-decorated dish, Early Kangxi period, circa 1670. Estimate $10,000 – $15,000. Photo Christie’s Image Ltd 2015

The dish is decorated on the interior with a scene from the Romance of the Western Chamber, depicting Yingying’s servant Hongniang kneeling before Yingying’s mother and an attendant in a curtained pavilion. An inscription referring to the scene appears on the wall behind the mother. The dish is supported on an unglazed channeled foot. 13 1/8 in. (33.2 cm.) diam. Lot 3589 – Price Realized $62,500

Provenance: S. Marchant & Son, Ltd., London, 1986.
Collection of Julia and John Curtis.

Literature: Julia B. Curtis, ‘Decorative Schemes for New Markets: The Origins and Use of Narrative Themes on 17th-Century Chinese Porcelain’, International Ceramics Fair & Seminar, London, 1997, p. 23, fig. 10.

Notes: In this scene, which is known as ‘Hongniang in the Dock’, Yingying’s maid Hongniang is shown being interrogated and rebuked by Yingying’s mother regarding her daughter’s relationship with Zhang Sheng. The text behind the seated mother reflects Hongniang’s view and reads rather bluntly: ‘Why persist in stopping them? Daughters and dead fish are not items to be retained’. A differently composed scene from the Xixiang ji depicting a tense encounter between Yingying’s mother and Hongniang decorates the Yuan dynasty meiping in the Victoria and Albert Museum, but the scene on the Curtis dish was almost certainly inspired by an illustration in the 1659 woodblock printed edition of the tale. (fig.1)

Fig. 1: Woodblock illustration to Xiuxiang Gelin Shicui (Ten Choice Selections of Song Medleys Elegantly Illustrated), 1659.

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

An underglaze-blue and copper-red-decorated basin, Early Kangxi period, circa 1670

Étiquettes

basin, circa 1670, Collection of Julia and John Curtis, early Kangxi period, underglaze-blue and copper-red-decorated

An underglaze-blue and copper-red-decorated basin, Early Kangxi period, circa 1670. Estimate $20,000 – $30,000. Photo Christie’s Image Ltd 2015

The basin is decorated in the interior with a praying mantis on a large rock beneath a prunus tree with a butterfly fluttering above. The cavetto is decorated with peony and chrysanthemum sprays beneath a band of flowering prunus branches on the everted rim. The basin is supported on an plain unglazed channeled foot. 14 ¼ in. (36.2 cm.) diam. Lot 3580 – Price Realized $62,500

Provenance: S. Marchant & Son, Ltd., London, 1985.
Collection of Julia and John Curtis.

Notes: A basin of similar shape, decorated in underglaze blue and red and also exhibiting the channeled foot seen on the present lot, is in the Butler Family Collection and illustrated by Michael Butler and Wang Qingzheng in Seventeenth Century Jingdezhen Porcelain from the Shanghai Museum and the Butler Collection: Beauty’s Enchantment, London, 2006, pp. 224-225, no. 75. The Butler Family example is painted in the center with a ‘Master of the Rocks’-style landscape, but the decorative scheme is the same as on the present dish, as are the sprays of peony branches on the rim. Sir Michael Butler notes another related basin in the Percival David Foundation, London, that bears a Zhonghetang mark dating to 1671, and bases the dating of his dish on this marked example (ibid., p. 224).

The unglazed channeled foot that appears on the present lot and the two examples noted above, as well as on lots 3581, 3583, 3589, 3591 in this catalogue, appears to have been used by the potters at Jingdezhen for a short period of time around 1670, and disappears in the second half of the Kangxi period.

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 and unusual underglaze-blue and copper-red-decorated dish, Kangxi six-character mark in underglaze blue within a double circle and of the period (1662-1722)

Étiquettes

Catalogue of Fang’s Ink Cake Designs, Collection of Julia and John Curtis, Fang Shi Mopu, Kangxi six-character mark in underglaze blue within a double circle and of the period, underglaze-blue and copper-red-decorated, Woodblock illustration

A large and unusual underglaze-blue and copper-red-decorated dish, Kangxi six-character mark in underglaze blue within a double circle and of the period (1662-1722). Estimate $25,000 – $35,000 Photo Christie’s Image Ltd 2015

The dish is decorated in the interior with an overall design drawn in a penciled style with leaping carp and Buddhist emblems on a ground of undulating waves. The reverse is painted with four further Buddhist emblems above the channeled foot. 13 ¾ in. (34.9 cm.) diam. Lot 3581 – Price Realized $125,000

Provenance: Frides Lameris, Amsterdam, 1988.
Collection of Julia and John Curtis.

Like four other large dishes in the Curtis Collection, lots 3580, 3583, 3589, 3591, this unusual dish is finished with a channeled foot, although the present dish bears a Kangxi mark. This type of foot appears to have been used by the potters at Jingdezhen for a short period of time around 1670, and disappears in the second half of the Kangxi period.

The decoration on this dish, with a large-scale ground pattern extending across the entire surface, is very unusual. It is possible that, like narrative scenes of the period, patterns and ground designs were also inspired by printed illustrations. (fig. 1)

Fig. 1: Woodblock illustration to Fang Shi Mopu (Catalogue of Fang’s Ink Cake Designs), by Fang Yulu, active 1570-1619.

For a related dish decorated in underglaze blue and copper-red with five carp on a similar wave ground, of slightly different shape than the present example, in Umezawa Kinenkan, Tokyo, see Sekai Toji Zenshu, vol. 15, Tokyo, 1983, p. 148, pl. 144.

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