Page 86 - 2020 December 1 Bonhams Hong Kong, Eternal Music in Chinese art

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A FINE BLUE AND WHITE ‘DANCERS AND MUSICIANS’ Harriet Szechenyi was born to the well-known Bodmer family of
BRUSHPOT, BITONG collectors in Zurich. Though her interest was focused on Japanese art
Chenghua six-character mark, Kangxi from the early 1960s she also ventured to buy Chinese art. Among her
Finely and delicately painted around the straight sides of the body principal advisers was Luigi Bandini of Eskenazi Ltd. However, as her
with four elegant ladies playing the transverse flute or dizi, clapper or scholarship grew she also acquired fine examples from other dealers
paiban, drum, and yunluo or ‘clouds gongs’, accompanying two ladies and auction houses around the world such as the present brushpot
dancing with long sleeves on mats before a dignitary seated in front of which was acquired from Marchant in London.
a large screen, with four further ladies-in-waiting standing beside him,
holding a fan, fly-whisk and covered vessels. The motif of a lady dancing before a dignitary is most likely derived
18cm (7in) diam. from the Ming dynasty novel and play Yuanyang Tao (鴛鴦絛), ‘The
Mandarin Duck Sash’. The book tells the story of the talented scholar
HKD500,000 - 800,000 Yang Zhifang and the lady Zhang Shu’er and their various romantic
US$65,000 - 100,000 twists and turns. The name of the book comes from the white jade
ornament carving of mandarin ducks on a sash which Zhang Shu’er
gives to Yang Zhifang.
清康熙 青花畫堂起舞圖筆筒
The scene in the present lot narrates the story of Yang Zhifang’s friend
Provenance: General Hu Ping receiving the Imperial order to set off on campaign. Zhang
S.Marchant and Son, London Shu’er dances in the centre to see him off. In the story it is clear that Zhang
The Harriet Szechenyi collection, Switzerland Shu’er dances alone for General Hu Ping, while his wife watches.
Bonhams London, 10 November 2011, lot 137
Furthermore, on other published examples of porcelain painted
來源： with this scene, it always depicts one lady dancing. Compare with
倫敦S.Marchant and Son公司 the scene in the woodblock print of Yuanyang Tao, see X.Tao, ed.,
瑞士Harriet Szechenyi舊藏 Yuanyang Tao, Xiyongxuan congshu, vol.1, 1926, p.6. This scene was
倫敦邦瀚斯，2011年11月10日，拍品編號137 popular in the late Ming and early Qing period, and widely depicted on
porcelain. See for example, a related blue and white brushpot, Kangxi,
with the same motif but depicting only one lady dancing in the Palace
Museum in Beijing, illustrated in Qing Shunzhi Kangxi chao qinghua ci,
Beijing, 2005, pp.340-341, no.220. Another blue and white jar, Kangxi,
with similar design of a lady dancing ‘for an Imperial concubine’,
is illustrated in The Complete Collection of Treasures of the Palace
Museum: Blue and White Porcelain with Underglazed Red III, Hong
Kong, 2000, p.26, no.21.

This brushpot depicts an ensemble playing the flute or di, clapper
or pai, drum or gu, and gongs or yunluo, which are frequently seen
in many regional folk music performances even today. This quartet
probably emerged together around Wenzhou in Zhejiang Province, in
the early Southern Song dynasty, as an accompaniment to Yongjia zaju
(Yongjia Opera), or Nan Xi (Southern Opera). However, another type of
folk vocal music, Chang Zhuan was also popular in Hangzhou in the
early Southern Song dynasty, and was also accompanied by the di,
pai, gu and luo. For further discussion see L.Gou, Suyuan zhongguo
chuantong wenhua zhilü (Tracing the Origins: A Journey to Chinese
Traditional Culture), Shanghai, 2017, pp.455-456. The painting on the
present brushpot suggests a continuity of this form of ensemble in folk
music from the Southern Song dynasty to the early Qing dynasty.
Illustration in Yuanyang Tao
《鴛鴦縧》插圖

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