Page 52 - Bonhams UK Marsh Collection Art for the Literati November 2, 2022

9 *
A LARGE BLUE AND WHITE AND COPPER-RED 'VIRTUOUS Depictions of women and children are common themes on Chinese
AUNT' DISH porcelain, upholding the Confucian values of filial piety towards
Chenghua six-character mark, Early Kangxi one's parents but also the mother's duty to instruct her son and be
Finely potted with deep curving sides rising from a channelled foot ring a paragon of virtue. Such depictions on porcelain could relate to a
to a slightly everted rim, the interior painted with an elegant lady with specific scene in a novel or play, but it is difficult to attribute. The image
high chignon and clad in long flowing robes carrying a smiling boy on on the present lot shows a woman carrying a boy on her back, her
her back, the hem of her dress in underglaze red, all amidst craggy leg is high up, indicating she running or moving quickly, while looking
rocks, the underside with the mark in underglaze blue within a back. It could therefore, relate to woodblock illustrations of the Lienu
double circle. zhuan ('Biographies of Exemplary Women') and the story of 'The
36cm (14 1/4in) diam. Virtuous Aunt'.
£20,000 - 30,000 The story recounts that when troops from the state of Qi entered Lu,
CNY160,000 - 240,000 they came upon a rural woman walking in the countryside, carrying her
own son and leading her husband's elder brother's son by the hand.
清康熙早期 青花釉裏紅「 义姑姊」盤 Fearing that she did not have the strength to rescue both children from
「大明成化年製」青花楷書款 the invaders, she flung her own son down, picked up her nephew and
fled. Her son was captured by the Qi troops, and when they eventually
Provenance: reached her as well, the soldiers asked her why she had made the
An English private collection choice she did. She responded that her relationship to her son is
Roger Keverne Ltd., London, 2013 private love, but her nephew is 'public duty':
Published, Illustrated and Exhibited: If I had turned my back on public duty and pursued private love,
Roger Keverne Ltd., Winter Exhibition, London, 2013, no.30. abandoning my brother's child to save my own child, even if by
some good fortune I had escaped, still the Lord of Lu would not
傳承： succour me, officials would not nourish me, and ordinary countrymen
英國私人收藏 would have nothing to do with me. If I were to do this, then my body
倫敦古董商 Roger Keverne Ltd.，2013年 would nowhere be at ease, and my tired feet would have nowhere
to step. Although it is painful to lose my son, what is the meaning
展覽及錄著： of righteousness? Although I can bear to abandon my son and
Roger Keverne Ltd., 《Winter Exhibition》，2013年，編號30 practice righteousness, I cannot bear to live in the state of Lu without
righteousness. See Children in Chinese Art, Honolulu, 2002, p.99.
The virtuous Aunt thus became a paragon of Confucian virtue for her
dedication to public virtue over private love. In the early Kangxi period,
when this dish was made, many would still remember the chaos and
destruction from the Manchu invasion in 1644, and stories of invading
soldiers and retreating women and children and issues of public
service over private interests, would have tugged at the hearts of those
living in the 17th and early 18th centuries.

Stylistically, depictions of women on porcelain from this period appear
to have been strongly influenced by Chen Hongshou (1598-1652).
Chen painted his figures with relatively large heads with high chignon
and thin graceful bodies. Chen was also extremely active within
the printing industry, hence his designs often came to the attention
of craftsmen who could copy them. See for example, the painting
'Flowers in His Hair' by Chen Hongshou, illustrated in Three Thousand
Years of Chinese Painting, New Haven and London, 1997, p.243.
For a related example of a blue and white dish with a lady, Kangxi,
see M.Butler, M.Medley and S.Little, Seventeenth-Century Chinese
Porcelain from the Butler Family Collection, Alexandria, 1990, p.167,
no.113; another related blue and white dish with a lady, Kangxi six-
character mark and of the period, in the Palace Museum, Beijing,
is illustrated in Qing Shunzhi Kangxi Chao Qinghuaci, Beijing, 2005,
p.123, no.61. See also a related blue and white dish, Kangxi,
illustrated by H.Garner, Oriental Blue and White, London, 1970, p.46,
pl.D.

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