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A BLUE AND WHITE ‘ROMANCE OF THE WEST CHAMBER’ A PAIR OF BLUE AND WHITE BALUSTER JARS AND COVERS
BOWL 19th century
Chenghua six-character mark, Kangxi Similarly painted around the body with a continuous scene of a pair
Finely painted in vivid underglaze blue with a continuous scene of three of cranes above a deer, all amid rockwork and pine trees, the necks
ladies within a walled pavilion visible from a large circular window, surrounded by ruyi borders, the domed covers with mountainous
under the plantain leaves two men by the wall look across to a military landscapes.
general brandishing a halberd on horseback followed by an attendant Each 46.5cm (18 1/4in) high (4).
carrying a flag, in the distance a tent with banners and spears, the
interior painted with a languid scholar leaning on a bundle of scrolls, £4,000 - 6,000 CNY37,000 - 55,000
gazing into the distant landscape beneath wispy clouds. HK$44,000 - 66,000
19.3cm (7 5/8in) diam

£4,000 - 6,000 CNY37,000 - 55,000 十九世紀 青花鶴鹿同春蓋罐 一對
HK$44,000 - 66,000
Provenance: an English private collection, assembled in Hong Kong
清康熙 青花西廂記圖盌 from 1967-1989, and thence by descent
青花「大明成化年製」楷書款
Exhibited, Published and Illustrated:
Provenance: a distinguished Belgian private collection The Oriental Ceramic Society of Hong Kong, Exhibition of Chinese
來源：顯貴比利時私人收藏 Blue and White Porcelain and related Underglaze Red, Hong Kong,
February 1975, no.119
On the exterior is an inscription which reads:
來源：
英國私人收藏，於1967至1989年間蒐於香港，並由後人保存迄今

孤孀子母無投奔, 展覽、出版及收錄：
赤緊的先亡過了我有福之人。 1975年2月於香港東方陶瓷學會「中國青花瓷」特展展出，展品119號

耳邊金鼓連天震

This may be translated as:

‘Orphan and widow, child and mother, we’ve nowhere to flee.
Truly, he who passed away first turned out to be the lucky one!
Within earshot, gongs and drums quake to the heavens.’

The scene is from the ‘Romance of the West Chamber’ (Xixiang ji 西
廂記), vol II, act I. In the play, as depicted on the present bowl, the
bandit Flying Tiger Sun sealed off the temple gate with five thousand
troops in attempt to capture the beautiful lady Yingying trapped inside.
Yingying’s mother agreed that whoever could defeat and drive away
the bandit general could have Yingying’s hand in marriage. The hero,
scholar Zhang Sheng, manages to get help from General Du and the
bandits were forced to retreat. See S.West and W.Idema, The Story of
the Western Wing, Berkeley, 1995, p.153.