Page 49 - Bonhams UK Marsh Collection Art for the Literati November 2, 2022
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The cover depicts a rabbit gazing at the moon. This is a reference to
the Goddess of the Moon’s companion, the moon rabbit, sometimes
also known as the Jade rabbit, who constantly pounds herbs into an
elixir of longevity for Chang’e. In time, the rabbit became synonymous
with the moon.
Compare with a similar blue and white ovoid jar, but without cover,
Jiajing six-character mark but Shunzhi, with very similar decoration,
illustrated by T.Canepa and K.Butler, Leaping The Dragon Gate:
The Sir Michael Butler Collection of Seventeenth-Century Chinese
Porcelain, London, 2021, p.309, no.III3.60. See also a related blue
and white ovoid jar and cover, Chongzhen, but decorated with flowers
and antiques, illustrated in Seventeenth Century Jingdezhen Porcelain
from the Shanghai Museum and the Butler Collections: Beauty’s
Enchantment, Shanghai, 2005, pp.90-91, no.13.
See a related blue and white ovoid jar and cover, circa 1640-1650,
similarly decorated with a lotus pond, which was sold at Christie’s New
York, An Era of Inspiration: 17th Century Chinese Porcelains from the Woodblock print from 1607, Yibaitang edition.
Collection of Julia and John Curtis, 16 March 2015, lot 3513.
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