Page 144 - 2021 March 18 to 19th, Important Chinese Works of Art, Christie's New York City

869
A RARE LARGE POWDER-BLUE-GLAZED AND GILT-
DECORATED ‘PHOENIX-TAIL’ VASE
KANGXI PERIOD (1662-1722)
The elegantly potted vase has a powder-blue ground, and is finely gilt with
four large panels on the exterior depicting scenes from the Gengzhi Tu
('Illustrations of Ploughing and Weaving'). Two of the scenes depict silk
production, and a further two depict agriculture, accompanied by their
respective inscriptions. The interior of the flaring neck is unusually decorated
in the famille verte palette with a band of four evenly-divided precious objects,
babao, each within a bracket cartouche against a ground of interlinked cash
symbols.
28 in. (71 cm.) high
$20,000-30,000

清康熙 灑藍釉描金 「耕織圖 」 鳳尾尊

The four scenes depicted in gilt are from woodblock prints known as the
Gengzhi Tu (Illustrations of Ploughing and Weaving) that were produced
in printed form in 1696. The Kangxi Emperor instructed prints to be made
based on original paintings by the court artist, Jiao Bingzhen, which
comprised twenty-three illustrations of farming, and an equal number of
silk production.
Each vignette on the present remarkable vase is finely rendered in gilt and
is accompanied by a short descriptive verse summarizing the scene. The
two depicting silk production represent 'changing trays' and 'selection
of cocoons', and the two from agricultural scenes depict 'threshing' and
'pounding'.
Originally these illustrations served as didactic material for teaching
princes and officials the importance of agricultural and sericulture,
although in their woodblock form these images provided templates
for many different types of works of art in the Qing dynasty. Scenes of
'ploughing and weaving' were particularly popular on Kangxi-period famille
verte wares, many times accompanied by a descriptive inscription, such
as a dish sold at Christie's New York, 14-15 September 2017, lot 1194, with
a scene of farmers sifting rice. The themes also extended into a variety
of media such as a carved spinach-green jade brush pot, illustrated by J.
Rawson, Chinese Jade: From the Neolithic to the Qing, London, 1995, pp.
407-408, fig. 29:18; and scenes on a mother-of-pearl screen dated to the
first quarter of 18th century, sold at Christie's London, 10 June 1996, lot
212.
A pair of related, large powder-blue and gilt phoenix-tail vases with
landscape scenes and inscriptions are in the Schloss Fasanerie, Eichenzell,
Germany.
868

VARIOUS PROPERTIES
868
A YELLOW-GROUND BLUE AND WHITE ‘DRAGON’ VASE
KANGXI PERIOD (1662-1722)
The tall neck is flanked by a pair of green-glazed dragon-head handles at,
and the baluster body is decorated with two four-clawed dragons chasing
flaming pearls. The base is inscribed with an apocryphal Jiajing mark.
10¿ in. (25.7 cm.) high

$8,000-12,000
PROVENANCE:
Private collection, Texas.

清康熙 黃地青花龍紋雙耳瓶
來源:
私人珍藏, 德克薩斯州。

869 (detail)