Page 242 - Christie's Chinese Works of Art March 24 and 25th, 2022 NYC

(detail)

ⱷ1113
A LARGE IRON-RED AND GREEN-
ENAMELED DOUBLE-GOURD VASE
MING DYNASTY, 16TH CENTURY
The lower and upper bulbs are decorated with
roundels containing flowers and birds reserved on a
diaper ground superimposed by florets in quatrefoil
borders, all between various decorative borders.
VARIOUS PROPERTIES 13t (33.2 cm.) high, Japanese wood box
1112
illustrated by R. Scott and R. Kerr in Ceramic Evolution in the Middle Ming $15,000-20,000
A RARE WUCAI 'ZHANG TIANSHI' DISH Period, V&A and Percival David Foundation, London, 1994, p. 22, no. 25; and
WANLI SIX-CHARACTER MARK IN UNDERGLAZE BLUE WITHIN A L.A. Cort and J. Stuart, Joined Colors, Smithsonian Institution, Washington, PROVENANCE:
DOUBLE CIRCLE AND OF THE PERIOD (1573-1619) Private collection, Osaka, before World War II,
1993, p. 130, no. 57, respectively, which are decorated with the Five
The center of the interior is decorated with Zhang Tianshi brandishing a sword Poisonous Creatures on the exterior and another symbol of the Duanwujie by repute.
and riding a qilin beneath a pine tree, all surrounded by floral motifs and butterflies festival, dragon boat races, on the interior.
in the well. The exterior is further decorated with a lizard and floral motifs. A similar double-gourd vase, but with the addition
of gilt decoration, designated as an Important
6¡ in. (16.1 cm.) diam., Japanese wood box
明萬曆 五彩「張天師斬五毒」圖盤 雙圈六字楷書款 Cultural Property, is illustrated in The Museum
of Oriental Ceramics, Osaka, ed., The Enchanting
$30,000-50,000 Chinese Ceramics from the Ise Collection, Osaka,
2017, pp. 166-7, no. 63.
The decoration of this dish is associated with the Dragon Boat Festival
(Duanwu jie), which falls on the fifth day of the fifth lunar month. Many of the
themes associated with Duanwu jie relate to the desire to combat evil forces 明十Սˠ紀ǎ
and poisonous creatures. On this dish, we see the legendary Daoist priest 礬紅錦ঃ綠彩開Բ花鳥紋葫蘆૯瓶
Zhang Tianshi, who cuts through evil with his sword. A lizard, one of the ‘Five
Poisons’, is depicted on the exterior of the dish. Ϝ源
日本૯阪私́珍藏
̣戰͠ע ҷ
A Wanli-marked wucai dish of this design was sold at Christie’s Hong
Kong, 30 November 2016, lot 3400, and another example was sold at
Christie’s London, 17 June 2003, lot 24. A Wanli wucai dish decorated with
Zhang Tianshi surrounded by all the ‘Five Poisons’, the snake, centipede,
toad, scorpion and lizard, is in the Palace Museum, Beijing, and illustrated
in Porcelains in Polychrome and Contrasting Colors, The Complete Collection
of Treasures of the Palace Museum, Hong Kong, 1999, no. 47. The current dish
is also related in theme to somewhat larger Wanli wucai dishes such as the
examples in the Percival David Foundation and the Tianminlou Foundation,

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