Page 38 - Bonhams UK Marsh Collection Art for the Literati November 2, 2022

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A RARE AND LARGE 'LADIES AND BOYS' WUCAI DISH The painting on the present lot has multiple allusions to examination
Yu tang jia qi mark, Shunzhi success. It is particularly remarkable however, for the humorous twist
Finely potted with deep rounded sides rising from a short foot ring, the the craftsmen took in making the child behind the lady pull his face at
interior exquisitely decorated with two ladies and five boys, one lady the viewer; making a common trope of hopeful wishes for examination
carries a young boy in her arms while the other with her back to us success into something unique.
plays with a Cassia flower, one boy hiding behind a lady humorously
pulling his face at the viewer, another two boys playing with a drum The image shows a lady plucking a cassia flower before the child
gaze in the distance, all within a balustraded garden with large craggy held up to her. To 'pluck the cassia' was a euphemism for passing
rocks and prunus, a three character inscription reading tanhua lang the Imperial civil service examinations. The phrase has its origins from
'The Flower Snatching Gentleman', the underside of the dish with the biography of Xi Shen (郤詵, exact dates unknown) in the Book of
maker's mark in underglaze blue within a double circle. Jin (晉書), an official history of the Jin dynasty (266-420). Xi Shen was
33cm (13in) diam. sent to Yongzhou as a Provincial Governor, but before he journeyed,
Emperor Wu of Jin (236-290) asked him: 'how does our minister [i.e.
£20,000 - 30,000 you] consider yourself? [for the role]'. Xi replied saying: 'I, your servant,
CNY160,000 - 240,000 esteem virtue and am good at strategies in running a state, [I am] first
under heaven, like a branch from the forest of cassia, or jade from
清順治 五彩仕女嬰戲圖盤 Kunlun'.
青花「玉堂佳器」楷書款
The link between plucking flowers and examination success is further
Provenance: reinforced by the inscription on the dish reading 'The Flower Snatching
S. Marchant & Son, London, 27 September 2005 (or Plucking) Gentleman' (tanhua lang 探花郎). Tanhua was the title
given to the third highest ranking candidate in the examination for
來源： the jinshi ('presented scholar') degree, the highest level. Zhuangyuan
倫敦古董商 S. Marchant & Son，2005年9月27日 (literally meaning 'top thesis author') was the title given to the
highest scoring candidate, while Bangyan (literally 'eyes positioned
alongside') was the title awarded to the second highest scoring.
The child reaching out for the flower held by the woman is literally a
'flower snatcher' or tanhua, embodying the hopes of later achieving
examination success.

See a blue and white bottle vase, Kangxi, with the same design,
illustrated in The Complete Collection of Treasures of the Palace
Museum: Blue and White Porcelain with Underglazed Red III, Hong
Kong, 2000, p.14, no.10. See also a pair of related famille verte
dishes, Kangxi marks and of the period, illustrated by S.Jenyns, Later
Chinese Porcelain, London, 1965, pl. XXXI, no.2.

For details of the charges payable in addition to the final Hammer Price of each Lot
38 | BONHAMS please refer to paragraphs 7 & 8 of the Notice to Bidders at the back of the catalogue.