Page 58 - Bonhams Catalog Cohen and Cohen Jan 24, 2023 New York

(detail) (fig.1)

22
A FINE MASSIVE FAMILLE ROSE ‘MANDARIN DUCKS AND Mandarin ducks have been a popular symbol in Chinese art for
PEONY’ CIRCULAR CHARGER centuries. Mandarin ducks were believed to mate for life, and so
Yongzheng/early Qianlong period, circa 1740 pairs of them have been a long-standing symbol for the strong bond
Brightly and delicately enameled at the center with a pair of mandarin between lovers, or a man and wife. A “mandarin duck dream” is a
ducks perched among pierced Lake Tai garden rocks issuing large Chinese metaphor for a romantic dream, and indeed this romantic
vibrantly colored flowering tree peony, within a wide floral and blue connotation explains its use as the very allusive name of Ye Xiaowan’s
enamel border densely filled with large peony blossoms, sprays of (1630-60) famous Ming drama, ‘The Dream of Mandarin Ducks’
blooming branches and butterflies divided at the four compass points (Yuanyang meng). Westerners brought back these ‘exotic’ birds to
by pale blue ground scrolls. Britain in the first half of the eighteenth century and the first drawing of
21 1/2in (52cm) diam this strange newcomer was made in 1745 (around the same time as
the production of this dish) by George Edwards in the gardens of Sir
$12,000 - 18,000 Matthew Decker in Richmond Green, Surry (fig.1)
雍正/乾隆時期 約1740年 粉彩《鴛鴦牡丹》大盤 This fine large dish may very probably have been enameled in the
same workshop as lot 95 in this sale.
Published:
Cohen & Cohen, Take Two!, Antwerp, 2017, pp. 66-69, no. 28
出版：
倫敦Cohen & Cohen古董行，《Take Two!》，安特衛普，2017年，頁
66-69，圖版編號28

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