Page 151 - Sotheby's Fine Chinese Art NYC September 2023

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PROPERTY FROM AN AMERICAN PRIVATE COLLECTION 清康熙 五彩凡帝訪月圖蓋罐
A FAMILLE-VERTE ‘IMMORTALS’ JAR AND COVER
QING DYNASTY, KANGXI PERIOD 來源
香港蘇富比1988年11月15至16日，編號228
(2)
Height 8⅞ in., 22.5 cm
PROVENANCE
Sotheby’s Hong Kong, 15th-16th November 1988, lot 228.
Delicately painted and vibrantly enameled, the present jar
depicts a joyous scene in a celestial courtyard where five
ladies stand within the balustrade to greet the three male
visitors arriving on clouds. While other figures hold fans,
brocade, flabellum, vase and osmanthus sprigs respectively,
one of the ladies cradles a rabbit in her arms, imbuing
the scene with endearing vitality. It is likely a depiction of
Emperor Xuanzong’s fabled journey to the Moon Palace,
as can be associated with by the appearance of a rabbit
(probably the Jade Rabbit of the Moon Goddess) and
osmanthus. Compare a related jar of Kangxi mark and
period, depicting six officials greeting a seated dignitary and
a lady in like manner in an open courtyard amongst verdure,
rockeries and cloud scrolls, sold first in our Hong Kong
rooms, 29th October 2001, lot 507, then entering the
Yidetang Collection, and again in our Hong Kong rooms,
12th October 2021, lot 13.
Complementing with the narrative, the cover of the jar bears
a Daoist immortal sitting on a qilin with a ruyi sceptre in
one hand. This auspicious combination is usually seen on
famille-verte porcelains, yet unusual to find on a cover. For
an example of a Daoist immortal similarly attired in a coral
red robe and riding a qilin with green scales, see a famille-
verte ovoid jar, sold in our London rooms, 17th June 1998,
lot 386, and again at Christie’s New York, 21st September
2004, lot 6573. The propitious Daoist connotation is further
underscored where four of the Eight Daoist Emblems are
reserved on a diaper band to the shoulders of the jar, seen
on a similar piece sold at Christie’s New York, 1st June 1990,
lot 302.

$ 50,000-70,000

298 SOTHEBY’S COMPLETE CATALOGUING AVAILABLE AT SOTHEBYS.COM/N11275 299