Page 24 - Sothebys Fine Chinese Art London, November 2018

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A FINE FAMILLE-ROSE ‘ONE beloved Chu State fell to the State of Qin. Dragon boat races
HUNDRED BOYS’ VASE were held annually at the Yuanming yuan, a day that was filled
JIAQING SEAL MARK AND PERIOD with excitement as crowds eagerly anticipated the arrival of
huge wooden boats, elaborately decorated with dragons or
sea birds at the prow and stern, and flying flags. Powered by
the baluster body rising from a short straight foot to a tall forty to eighty experienced rowers and a drummer who set
waisted neck with flaring rim, brightly and finely enamelled the rhythm for the oarsmen, crews also contained acrobats or
around the exterior with the Dragon Festival, the river exhorters thus increasing the spectacle of the event.
landscape with numerous boys both watching and sailing on
dragon boats, all between ruyi, keyfret and gilt bands at the Compare a smaller vase of related form, but with a slightly
shoulder and foot, the neck with lotus strapwork between stiff broader body and flanked with loop handles, decorated with
leaf and ruyi bands and reserved on a lime-green ground, the a similar scene of boys engaged in playful dragon boat racing
interior of the neck glazed turquoise, the base with the iron-red between blue borders, also with an iron-red Jiaqing mark and
seal mark reserved on a turquoise ground of the period, in the National Palace Museum, Taipei, included
35.5 cm, 14 in. in the Museum’s exhibition Lord Jiaqing and the Journey to
Taiwan: A Special Exhibition on Cultural Artifacts of the Qing
PROVENANCE Emperor Renzong, 2016, cat. no. III-33; and a ruby-red ground
An English private collection. pair, in the Huaihaitang collection, included in the exhibition
Purchased at a church bazaar in St Albans on 22nd June, 1911 Ethereal Elegance. Porcelain Vases of the Imperial Qing. The
(fig. 1). Huaihaitang Collection, Art Museum, The Chinese University
of Hong Kong, Hong Kong, 2007, cat. no. 138, together with a
Exquisitely decorated with a delightful scene of boys play- yellow-ground Daoguang version, painted with boys cheering
acting dragon boat racing, the style of the present vase was adult dragon boat racers with a four-character Shengdetang
pioneered during the Qianlong period to resemble paintings mark, cat. no. 140. The pair to the Daoguang vase was sold
mounted between textile borders. Such vases are considered in our Hong Kong rooms, 28th April 1992, lot 185, again in
to have been produced at the imperial kilns in Jingdezhen these rooms, 8th December 1992, lot 296, and a third time at
during the early years of the Jiaqing Emperor’s reign. The Christie’s Hong Kong, 30th May 2006, lot 1460.
excitement and joyfulness of the boys is skilfully captured in
their animated expressions and poses, which are heightened Vases decorated with the theme of boys at play, painted
by the restrained depiction of the rippling water. It successfully between coloured borders, were produced in numerous
combines several decorative elements, from the luxurious variations during the Jiaqing reign; for example see a bottle
green-ground borders to the continuous narrative that is vase depicting a lively ‘hundred boys’ scene against a lime-
revealed with every turn of the vase, akin to unravelling a green ground, sold at Christie’s South Kensington, 17th May
textile-mounted handscroll. 2013, lot 1504; another, but between turquoise bands, sold
at Bonhams Hong Kong, 27th November 2014, lot 187; and
The depiction of ‘a hundred boys at play’, representing the wish another, but decorated with nine boys at play, also against
for many sons, was a popular theme in the decorative arts of lime-green borders, sold in our New York rooms, 13th
the Ming and Qing dynasties. The ‘hundred boys’ refers to King September 2017, lot 32. The motif of boys at play is also seen
Wen of the Zhou dynasty who had ninety-nine sons and adopted on earlier Qianlong period wares; compare a lantern-shape
one more to make one hundred. As the link between classical vase with the bajixiang painted on green enamel bands,
education and a prosperous family grew in the Ming period, illustrated in Qing Imperial Porcelain of the Kangxi, Yongzheng
luxury goods made for the literati increasingly portrayed boys and Qianlong Reigns, Nanjing, 1995, pl. 87; and ruby-red
and fertility symbols. The image of children imitating adults, ground version, sold at Christie’s Hong Kong, 29th/30th
by engaging in activities connected with scholarly pursuits October, 1995, lot 756, and again in our New York rooms, 17th
or auspiciousness, reveals an intense ambition among the March 2009, lot 123.
educated elite for their sons to achieve high intellectual status
and preserve the literary prestige of the family. £ 150,000-200,000
The boys on the present vase merrily re-enact the Duanwu HK$ 1,520,000-2,030,000 US$ 194,000-259,000
Festival, also popularly known as Dragon Boat Festival and
Zhongxiao Festival, which occurs annually on the fifth day of 清嘉慶 綠地粉彩百子龍舟瓶
the fifth month. Dragon boat racing is said to originate from 《大清嘉慶年製》款
the legend of people paddling out on boats to recover the body
of the poet Qu Yuan (343-278 BC), a patriotic poet and exiled 來源
official during the Warring States period. He drowned himself 英國私人收藏.
in the Miluo River on the fifth day of the fifth month, when his 於1911年6月22日購自聖奧爾本斯教堂市集， 見圖一

Mark Fig. 1

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