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MARCHANT: NINE DECADES IN CHINESE ART

741 A FAMILLE VERTE GREEN-GLAZE-
BACKED DISH
The three fgures in the present dish can be identifed by the
KANGXI SIX-CHARACTER MARK IN UNDERGLAZE BLUE WITHIN signs hanging from their belts as characters from the famous
A DOUBLE CIRCLE AND OF THE PERIOD (1662-1722) novel ‘The Water Margin’: Sun Chao stands in the center,
fanked by Ruan Xiaowu and Lei Heng. The scene was likely
The dish is fnely decorated on the interior with three military inspired by illustrations of ‘The Water Margin’ made by the
fgures, each holding a spear or halberd, and the reverse is artist Chen Hongshou, who created the illustrations for an
covered with a translucent green glaze. edition of the book which was published in 1657, as well as
6√ in. (17.5 cm.) diam. a set of album leaves showing a different character on each
page. A dish in the Victoria and Albert Museum, London,
$10,000-15,000 decorated sparsely with just three fgures stripped of any
landscape setting, appears to be particularly related to the
PROVENANCE Chen Hongshou album leaves: see R. Kerr, Chinese Ceramics:
Porcelain of the Qing Dynasty 1644-1911, London, 1986,
Mr. and Mrs. E. C. Blake Collection. p. 102-103, no. 81.
Sotheby’s London, Fine “Famille Rose” Porcelain in Chinese
Taste: The Property of E. C. Blake, Esq., 8 July 1958, lot 99 A similar Kangxi-marked famille verte dish decorated with
(part lot). three fgures and covered on the exterior with a green
John Sparks Ltd., London. glaze in The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, is
Sir Alfred Akroyd Collection. illustrated by S. Valenstein, A Handbook of Chinese Ceramics,
Sotheby’s London, An Important Collection of Chinese Porcelain: New York, 1975, p. 232, no. 226, where the author notes
The Property of the late Sir Alfred Akroyd, 17 May 1966, lot 225 (p. 236) that “the green glaze on the reverse of this dish is
(part lot). somewhat unusual”. Two further examples also with green
Spink & Son Ltd., London. glaze on the reverse were bequeathed by the Rev. A. V.
F. G. &. E. H. Morrill Collection, no. 67 (label). Valentine-Richards to the Fitzwilliam Museum, Cambridge,
Bluett & Son, London, 1986. museum nos. C.38-1933 and C.39-1933, and another related
dish is illustrated by Wang Qingzheng, Kangxi Porcelain Wares
EXHIBITED from the Shanghai Museum Collection, Hong Kong, 1998,
p. 305, no. 132.
London, The Oriental Ceramic Society, Exhibition of
Enamelled Polychrome Porcelain of the Manchu Dynasty 1644-1912,
23 May - 21 July, 1951, no. 23.

LITERATURE

Transactions of The Oriental Ceramic Society, 1951-52, vol. 26,
p. 64, no. 23.

清康熙 五彩水滸人物圖盤 雙圈六字楷書款

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