Page 48 - Reginald and Lena Palmer Collection EXHIBITION, Bonhams London Oct 25 to November 2 2021

This finely-decorated dish is part of a renowned group of very A wide variety of designs appear to have been commissioned for such
distinctive dishes known as ‘birthday plates’ in two sizes. These ‘birthday’ dishes, often depicting ladies, or - more commonly – boldly-
were made for the occasion of the Kangxi Emperor’s 60th birthday designed scenes from nature, either with birds forming the key central
celebration in 1713 [see also Bonhams Exhibition no.19]. The focus (as on the two examples in the Bonhams Exhibition) or more
Confucian principles of filial piety and respect for old age, central to rarely with insects as the design’s central element (even though ‘Grass
Chinese culture, extolled the virtues of obedience and devotion to be and Insects’ is one of the most traditional categories of all Chinese
extended to both parents and elderly family members. The sixtieth brush painting). An example with two ladies is in The Cleveland
birthday of the Emperor was a momentous State occasion, marked Museum of Art, Severance and Greta Millikin Collection, (acc.
by operatic performances, music and lavish banquets hosting over a no.1964.220). Another depicting the goddess Magu with an attendant
thousand elderly gentlemen over the age of 65 (qian sou yan 千叟宴), is in the Palace Museum, Beijing, illustrated in Kangxi. Yongzheng.
playing out this core tenet of ‘respect for old age’ on a vast scale. Qianlong. Hong Kong, 1989, p.69, pl.52. A dish with a grasshopper
on a stem of peas, from the Bennett collection, is illustrated by
Depicted on this dish are geese landing by a sandbank. Such a theme W.G.Gulland, Chinese Porcelain, London, 1911, vol.II, pl.635.
has strong poetic associations with Autumn and has been extolled
by both painters and musicians alike in the well-known song for the ‘Birthday’ dishes with four different motifs in the Sir Percival David
guqin ‘Wild Geese Descending on the Sandbank’ (平沙落雁). This collection are in the British Museum, London, see Illustrated Catalogue
theme attained renown within Chinese literary and artistic circles during of Qing Enamelled Wares in the Percival David Foundation of Chinese
the Song period and continued from then on. See also for example, Art, London, 1991, nos.812, 890, 891 and A 836. Others with a bird
a painting of geese descending by Bian Shoumin (1683-1752), in the on a fruiting branch are in the Musée Guimet, Paris, illustrated by
Museum of Fine Arts, Houston (acc.no.90.513). Such an appropriately X.Besse, La Chine des Porcelaines, Paris, 2004, pl.35; and in the
reflective tone is entirely fitting for this Imperial ‘birthday’ dish. Indeed, Gulexuan collection, illustrated by R.Krahl and C.von Spee, Chinese
the mark of a person of feeling in the late Ming and Qing dynasties Ceramics from the Gulexuan Collection, Lünen, 2003, pl.99.
was a poignant awareness of the transience of the phenomenal world,
embodied alike in the changing seasons and in the shifting fortunes of For a dish identical to the current example, see Splendour of the Qing
human life. This concept forms the locus whereby the stern Buddhist Dynasty, Hong Kong, 1992, p.295, no.162. See also The Tsui Museum
doctrine of impermanence was softened by the aesthetics of deep of Art: Chinese Ceramics IV, Hong Kong, 1995, no.100.
responsiveness to the world. Thus the viewer of this plate, knowing the
associations of geese with Autumn, could feel that they were savouring
an essential Buddhist truth that evoked ephemeral beauty through the
turning leaves. Certainly, the completion of the sexagenary cycle such
as a 60th birthday would justify an autumnal theme running through
the entire ‘service’.

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