Page 40 - Sotheby's Fine Chinese Art NYC September 2023

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A RARE PAIR OF INSCRIBED BLUE AND WHITE A RARE BLUE AND WHITE ‘FLOWER-BALLS’ 清同治 青花皮球花紋灰槽
CUPS ASH CONTAINER 《同治年製》款
MARKS AND PERIOD OF TONGZHI SEAL MARK AND PERIOD OF TONGZHI
each inscribed with the characters wushi zongci, the base of the back with a four-character seal mark in underglaze blue 來源
each with a six-character Tongzhi nian jiechen zhi mark (2) Length 15⅝ in., 39.8 cm Ronald W. Longsdorf 收藏
Diameter 3⅝ in., 9.4 cm
PROVENANCE
PROVENANCE Collection of Ronald W. Longsdorf.
Orientique, Hong Kong, 6th January 1995.
This rare rectangular vessel was used to contain the charcoal
Compare another pair of cups of this type included in the ashes from a brazier, and appears to be a form specific to
537 exhibition Imperial Porcelain of Late Qing from the Kwan the late Qing period. A similar container, although painted in
Collection, Art Gallery, The Chinese University of Hong Kong, polychrome enamels with a design of butterflies, is depicted
Hong Kong, 1983, cat. no. 94. in a portrait of the Dowager Empress Cixi, see China’s
Hidden Century: 1796–1912, British Museum, London, 2023,
$ 8,000-12,000 pl.1.13 (illustrated in this sale catalogue, p. 63). The same
‘flower balls’ design is found on a blue and white Xianfeng
清同治 青花「五氏宗祠」盃一對 mark and period rectangular jardinière, exhibited in Imperial
Porcelain of the Late Qing from the Simon Kwan Collection,
《同治年介臣製》款 The Chinese University of Hong Kong, Hong Kong, 1983,
cat. no. 243, sold twice at Christie’s: first in their Singapore
來源 rooms, 30th March 1997, lot 243, and again in their Hong
古慶堂，香港，1995年1月6日 Kong rooms, 30th May 2006, lot 1475.

$ 10,000-15,000

538

A PAIR OF FAMILLE-ROSE ‘EIGHT BUDDHIST
EMBLEMS’ DISHES
MARKS AND PERIOD OF TONGZHI
the base of each with a six-character mark in underglaze
blue (2)
Diameter 6 in., 15.2 cm
$ 5,000-7,000

538 清同治 粉彩八吉祥紋盤一對
《大清同治年製》款

76 SOTHEBY’S COMPLETE CATALOGUING AVAILABLE AT SOTHEBYS.COM/N11275 THE LEGACY OF CIXI. LATE QING PORCELAIN FROM THE BARBARA JEAN LEVY COLLECTION 77