Page 201 - Nov 29 2017 HK Important Chinese Ceramics

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A RARE LARGE WUCAI ‘SAGE OF THE The imagery on this dish is reflected in a hanging scroll by the Ming
NORTHERN SEA’ DISH painter Wu Wei (1459-1508) entitled Beihai Zhenren ‘Perfected
Man of the Northern Sea’, which Richard M. Barnhart discusses in
WANLI SIX-CHARACTER MARK WITHIN A DOUBLE CIRCLE AND OF Possessing the Past: Masterpieces of the National Palace Museum
THE PERIOD (1573-1619) Barnhart identifies the figure in the painting as the embodiment of the
The dish is decorated to the centre with a circular panel enclosing philosopher Zhuangzi (B.C. 369-286)’s conception of the ‘Perfected
the Sage of the Northern Sea in underglaze blue riding a turtle One’, zhenren, one who is unaffected by physical calamities and travels
contrasted by a figure executed in enamels holding a fan next to a beyond the four seas, and hence in Wu’s painting and in our current lot,
the immortal is seated on the back of a tortoise.
waterfall, all amongst billowing clouds. The cavetto is decorated
with stylised shou characters above a flower scroll. The reverse is Another mention of the Beihai Zhenren is in the Huainanzi, a second-
decorated with flower sprigs above a scroll band to the foot. century B.C. compilation of Daoist stories, where Lu Ao travelled to the
North to seek perfection. There he encountered an immortal withdrawn
9 ¿ in. (23.2 cm.) diam., Japanese paulownia wood box into the shell of a tortoise eating crabs and clams. When asked to guide
Lu Ao on his quest, the immortal told him that the purity of the Dao is
HK$300,000-500,000 US$39,000-64,000 beyond the physical world and vanished into the clouds.
PROVENANCE
A Japanese private collection, Nagoya, acquired in 1996. 明萬曆 五彩北海真人圖盤 雙圈六字楷書款

來源
日本名古屋私人珍藏，於1996年購入

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