Page 258 - Bonhams Catalog Cohen and Cohen Jan 24, 2023 New York

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THREE MASSIVE BLUE AND WHITE ‘PEACOCK’ CHARGERS
Kangxi period, circa 1700
Each of these three matching chargers is decorated in underglaze
blue with an elaborate design of a central roundel of flowers surround
by eight leaf-shaped panels containing flowers, the rim with four
peacocks alternating with floral reserves on a scrolling lotus ground,
the reverse with Daoist symbols and a sacred fungus (lingzhi).
21 3/4in (55.3cm) diam (3).

$20,000 - 30,000
康熙時期 約1700年 大件青花《孔雀》盤三件
Published:
Cohen & Cohen, A Game of Bowls, Ghent, 2014, pp. 28-29, no. 21
出版：
倫敦Cohen & Cohen古董行，《A Game of Bowls》，根特，2014
年，頁28-29，圖版編號21

These elaborate and high-quality chargers are fine examples of pieces
that were very popular for displays in the late seventeenth and early
eighteenth centuries, often in special rooms called ‘porcelain cabinets’.

While produced at the height of the production of blue and white
in the early eighteenth century, interest in this ware was renewed in
the nineteenth century. One of the most famous displays of such
collections was the Peacock Room in the London home of Frederick
R. Leland (1831-92), which was later purchased by Charles Lang Freer
(1854-1919) and is now installed at the Freer Gallery, National Museum
of Asian Art, Smithsonian Institution, Washington, DC.
References: R. A. Collection, an identical dish, in Pinto de Matos,
2003, no. 11, 70; Merrill, 1998, The Peacock Room: A Cultural
Biography.
In China the peacock is a symbol of beauty and dignity, and, in the
Ming dynasty, the tail feathers were used to show official rank.

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