Page 417 - Christies September 13 to 14th Fine Chinese Works of Art New York

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A LARGE FAMILLE ROSE TURQUOISE-GROUND JARDINIÈRE The Tihedian (Hall of Manifest Harmony) was one of the six palaces in the
TONGZHI-GUANGXU PERIOD (1862-1908) northwestern sector of the Forbidden City where the Empress Dowager
The body is decorated with numerous butterfies of various hues in fight Cixi lived during much of her tenure as Regent to her son, Emperor Tongzhi.
amidst gilt shuangxi characters on a turquoise ground beneath a band of Special porcelain pieces were designed and produced for several of these
ruyi-heads under the fat, everted rim with scalloped edge enameled with palaces during the Tongzhi to Guangxu periods under the supervision of the
a band of key fret on the sides and further butterfies amidst gourds on top. Empress Dowager Cixi, and these wares were usually marked with names
The base is inscribed with the four-character Tihedian zhi mark in iron-red of their palace designation; for example, another well-known palace hall mark
seal script and pierced with two holes for drainage. on porcelain from this period is the Dayazhai mark.
15¬ in. (39.8 cm.) diam.
Compare a yellow and blue-glazed jardinière of similar form, also with a
Tihedian zhi seal mark, but slightly smaller (31.2 cm. diam.), illustrated in
$8,000-12,000 Gongyang yuci, Beijing, 2007, pp. 234-35, no. 57. For a rectangular jardinière
with a related butterfy and shou-character design, dated to the Tongzhi
period, see ibid., pp. 90-91.
PROVENANCE
Private collection, New England. 清同治/光緒 松石綠地粉彩百蝶紋大花盆

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