Page 90 - 2020 Nov 30 Christie's Hong Kong Important Chiense Works of Art

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A RARE LARGE WUCAI 'SAGE OF THE The imagery on this dish is reflected in a hanging scroll by the Ming
painter Wu Wei (1459-1508) entitled Beihai Zhenren ‘Perfected
NORTHERN SEA' DISH Man of the Northern Sea’, which Richard M. Barnhart discusses in
Possessing the Past: Masterpieces of the National Palace Museum.
WANLI SIX-CHARACTER MARK WITHIN A DOUBLE CIRCLE AND OF Barnhart identifies the figure in the painting as the embodiment of the
THE PERIOD (1573-1619)
philosopher Zhuangzi (B.C. 369-286)’s conception of the ‘Perfected
The dish is decorated to the centre with a circular panel enclosing One’, zhenren, one who is unaffected by physical calamities and travels
the Sage of the Northern Sea in underglaze blue riding a turtle beyond the four seas, and hence in Wu’s painting and in our current lot,
the immortal is seated on the back of a tortoise.
contrasted by a figure executed in enamels holding a fan next to a
waterfall, all amongst billowing clouds. The cavetto is decorated Another mention of the Beihai Zhenren is in the Huainanzi, a second-
with stylised shou characters above a flower scroll. The reverse is century B.C. compilation of Daoist stories, where Lu Ao travelled to the
North to seek perfection. There he encountered an immortal withdrawn
decorated with flower sprigs above a scroll band to the foot.
into the shell of a tortoise eating crabs and clams. When asked to guide
9 ¿ in. (23.2 cm.) diam., Japanese wood box
Lu Ao on his quest, the immortal told him that the purity of the Dao is
beyond the physical world and vanished into the clouds.
HK$240,000-350,000 US$32,000-45,000
PROVENANCE
A private collection, Nagoya, Japan, acquired in 1996
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