Page 54 - Reginald and Lena Palmer Collection EXHIBITION, Bonhams London Oct 25 to November 2 2021

14
A FAMILLE VERTE ‘THREE SCHOLARS’ BOWL
Kangxi
18.8cm (7 3/8in) diam.
清康熙 五彩山水人物圖盌

Provenance:
John Sparks Ltd., London
R.H.R Palmer (1898-1970), acquired from the above in February 1943,
Collection no.560

Published and Exhibited:
The Oriental Ceramic Society, Exhibition of Enamelled Polychrome
Porcelain of the Manchu Dynasty 1644-1912, London, 1951, no.21

來源：
倫敦古董商John Sparks Ltd.
R.H.R Palmer（1898-1970）於1943年2月購自上者，典藏編號560

展覽著錄：
倫敦東方陶瓷學會，《Exhibition of Enamelled Polychrome Porcelain
of the Manchu Dynasty 1644-1912》，倫敦，1951年，編號21

The bowl with deep rounded sides, decorated around the exterior with The design was probably copied from one of the illustrated woodblock
a scene of three scholars and a boy-attendant carrying a guqin, all printed books that proliferated at the time, such as the ‘Manual of the
within a lavish pavilion interior. Beside an artemisia leaf is a calligraphic Mustard Seed Garden’ (芥子園畫傳), that catered for a new generation
inscription in xingshu script, reading: of literati wishing to cultivate themselves in the art of painting; see
J.P.Park, Art by the Book: Painting Manuals and the Leisure Life in
天涯 見幾人還， Late Ming China, Seattle and London, 2017. Similar treatment of the
僧寺來偷半日閒。 architecture, floor tiles, trees and figures can all be seen in woodblock
勘破十年塵土夢， printed books. See for example, a page from Wu jiang zhi, Ming
畫中不寫晉陽山。 dynasty, illustrated in Zhongguo banhua shi tulu, Beijing, 2012, p.174,
卉菴 showing a scholar and boy-attendant in a pavilion, drawn in a similar
manner to that on the bowl. However, without further details or clues in
Which may be translated as: the design, it is almost impossible to say for certain exactly which story
the design is from.
In a faraway place only a few people to be seen returning
Temple monks come to steal half a day’s rest Compare with a related famille verte bowl, Kangxi, of similar shape
Rejecting ten years dream of mortal dust and with calligraphic inscription starting with an artemisia leaf, but
In the painting Jinyang mountain is not sketched decorated with a scene of agriculture, illustrated in Kangxi Porcelain
Hui An Wares from the Shanghai Museum Collection, Shanghai, 1998,
pp.164-165. A famille verte plate with similiar Hui An mark, is illustrated
The Chinese poem on this bowl demonstrates that it was made for the in Ibid., no.107.
domestic market rather than for export, to be appreciated by a scholar
or member of the gentry, much in the same manner as literati paintings
are often accompanied by poems. The present poem, found in the Yu
Yi Lu (寓意錄), was by Shen Zhou 沈周 (1427-1509) - one of the Four
Masters of the Wu School of painting - inscribed originally on a painting
by Liu Jue 劉珏 (1410-1472). This certainly fits the painterly quality of
the bowl, but the poem itself is largely imitative of earlier Tang models
reflecting Ming poetic fashions.

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