Page 91 - Nov 2019 Hong Kong SOtheby's Chinese Art

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PROPERTY FROM AN OLD HONG KONG FAMILY COLLECTION Zhu Shennong (1894-1962), a native of Jiangyang in Jiangsu
A PAIR OF ‘BONELESS’ FAMILLE-ROSE SAUCER province, was a ninth-generation practitioner of Chinese
DISHES medicine. Renowned for his groundbreaking discoveries
MARKS AND PERIOD OF YONGZHENG on renal health and Xiayang zheng, he also published the
seminal Xiayangzheng zhi. His collection of Chinese art had
each with rounded sides rising from a tapered foot to a flared a predominant focus on Qing porcelains.
rim, decorated in the ‘boneless’ technique with two roses Painted in a technique known as the ‘boneless style’ for
each at a different phase of bloom and a butterfly fluttering its virtually skeleton and outline-free design, the only lines
above, the stems painted in shades of yellowish and bluish incorporated into the composition are the black lines
green used to define the veins on the leaves and butterflies. It
11 cm, 4⅜ in. represented a great challenge to the artists as lesser-skilled
painters would require outlines to complete their sections
PROVENANCE
of decoration, and if not handled correctly it would give the
Collection of Zhu Shennong (1894-1962) and thence by impression that the piece was unfinished.
descent in the family, by repute.
See two larger pairs of ‘boneless’ dishes, painted with roses
HK$ 200,000-300,000 and asters, but lacking the butterflies: one pair, sold in our
US$ 25,500-38,300 London rooms, 11 May 2011, lot 281, and again at Christie’s
New York, 22nd/23rd March 2018, lot 818; and another pair,
sold at Christie’s New York, 18th/19th September 2014, lot
清雍正 粉彩沒骨蝶戀花紋小盤一對 961. Compare also a pair of ‘boneless’ cups sold in these
《大清雍正年製》款 rooms, 6th April 2016, lot 3619.

來源
朱莘農（1894-1962年）收藏，此後家族傳承

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