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PROPERTY FROM AN OLD HONG KONG FAMILY COLLECTION 清道光 粉彩宮粉地五子登科雙龍耳瓶一對
A RARE PAIR OF PINK-GROUND FAMILLE- 《慎德堂製》款
ROSE ‘BOYS AND FIRECRACKERS’ VASES
SHENDETANG HALL MARKS, QING
DYNASTY, DAOGUANG PERIOD

each well-potted with an ovoid body rising from a short splayed
foot to a tall waisted neck and flaring rim, the neck flanked by a
pair of stylised dragon handles with gilt highlights, the exterior
of the body enamelled with a continuous scene, depicting five
boys dressed in lavish winter clothing and lighting firecrackers
in a garden laden with ripe fruits and lingzhi, all between a pink-
ground and a turquoise-ground ruyi-band, the neck decorated
with lotus scrolls and bats against a pink ground, the interior
and base enamelled turquoise, the base inscribed in iron-red
with a four-character Shendetang zhi hall mark, wood stands
29.8 cm, 11¾ in.
HK$ 700,000-1,000,000
US$ 89,500-128,000

Vibrantly painted with a playful scene of boys playing with yellow and turquoise-ground flower-scroll borders, and the
firecrackers, this pair of vases belong to a select group of second with a pink ground and elaborate dragon handles;
porcelain wares made during the Daoguang reign to furnish another was sold in our London Colonnade rooms, 18th July
his newly built Shengdetang (Hall of Prudent Virtue). Part 1994, lot 154; and a further vase but with a Daoguang reign
of the Jiuzhouqingyan complex in the Yuanming Yuan, mark and of the period, from the collection of Edward T. Chow,
the Shendetang was completed in 1831, and became the was sold in our Hong Kong rooms, 19th May 1981, lot 597.
Emperor’s preferred residence. Featuring three connecting See also a vase of this type, decorated with boys on dragon
wave roofs on a square-shaped structure, the hall was boats, between blue-ground borders, in the Palace Museum,
markedly different from the more characteristic Confucian- Beijing, illustrated in Zhao Congyue, Porcelains with Inscription
inspired architecture, a feature that was reflected in the style of Shendetang Collected by the Palace Museum, Beijing, 2014,
of porcelain that was lavishly produced for it. This special pl. 50; and another with the borders on a yellow ground, from
group of wares are attributable to two decades between 1831 the Huaihaitang collection, included in the exhibition Ethereal
and 1850 and are often characterised by novel and lavish Elegance. Porcelain Vases of the Imperial Qing, Art Museum,
designs, as seen with this pair of vases. The Chinese University of Hong Kong, Hong Kong, 2007, cat.
no. 140.
A vase of this type and painted with this motif, but with a key-
fret band on the neck, from the Georg Weishaupt collection, The lively scene on these pieces is set in an elegant winter
illustrated in Chinese and Japanese Porcelain of the 19th and landscape, with the boys wearing fur coats and playing among
20th Centuries and their Forerunners, Stuttgart, 2002, pl. flowering winter trees. Together with their engagement
38, was sold at Christie’s Hong Kong, 16th January 1989, lot with firecrackers, it suggests that the vases were made for
706; two slightly larger examples were sold in our New York celebrating the New Year, when boys were encouraged to light
rooms, 28th November 1994, lot 382 and 383, the first with firecrackers to ward off evil and therefore bring peace.

Marks

98 SOTHEBY’S 蘇富比