Page 27 - Sotheby's Chinese Art and Porcelain Auction New York September 12, 2018
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A FINE BLUE AND WHITE ‘PEONY’ This delicately potted cup depicting ß owering Compare a full set of blue and white month
‘MONTH’ CUP peony bushes, accompanied by complementary cups from the Qing Court Collection and still in
two-lined poems, exempliÞ es a classic design Beijing, illustrated in The Complete Collection
KANGXI MARK AND PERIOD
of the Kangxi period. It represents the fourth of Treasures of the Palace Museum. Blue and
Þ nely potted, the deep U-shaped sides month of the year, and would have originally White Porcelain with Underglazed Red (III),
supported on a straight foot and rising to a been part of a set of twelve cups each depicting Hong Kong, 2000, pl. 71; a ‘peony’ month cup
gently everted rim, the exterior delicately seasonal ß owers. Cups of this type were known sold at Christie’s Hong Kong, 27th November
painted to one side with peony stems springing to have been used for wine drinking at court 2013; and another sold in our Hong Kong
forth from behind gnarled rockwork, their long during the Kangxi period. The poem can be rooms, 1st November 1994, lot 134.
leafy stems swaying under the weight of their translated as: 㶭䅁ġġġ曺剙䈉ᷡ⚾娑㔯剙䤆䙫
luscious blooms, the tonality of the cobalt Xiao yan yuan fen jin zhang lu. Mu xiang shen re
deliberately calibrated to convey depth and yu tang feng. ˪⣏㶭䅁⸜墥˫㫦
imitate the natural variegation of peony petals
and leaves, accompanied by a poetic couplet ‘At dawn its beauty receives dew from a golden 娑㔯烉
inscribed on the opposite side and followed by palm. In the evening the fragrance penetrates 㙱刟怈↮慹㌴曚ġ㙖楁㶙ァ䌱➪桐
deep into the Jade Hall.’
a seal reading shang (‘to appreciate’), the base
with a six-character mark in underglaze blue ⌘㔯烉岆
within a double circle
Height 2 in., 5 cm Ը๕
⎚吪剔ɀ䑲偗ᶱᶾ炷1978⸜必炸㓞啷
PROVENANCE
Collection of Stephen Junkunc, III (d. 1978).
$ 80,000-120,000
PROPERTY FROM THE JUNKUNC COLLECTION 25