Page 67 - Christie's Fine Chinese Paintings March 19 2019 Auction

Fig. 1 Porcelain bowl with underglaze blue fower and fruit sprays around
sides, Xuande mark and period. PDF,B.658 © The Trustees of the British
Museum
The exterior of the current bowl is beautifully painted in the fnest cobalt
blue with peaches, pomegranates, persimmons, grapes, melons and either
crab-apples or loquats - all of which have been found on the shards of early
15th century porcelain vessels excavated from the site of the Imperial kilns.
It is notable that all the diferent fruiting sprays are shown with fowers as
well as fruit and leaves. This is undoubtedly a result of their depiction being
infuenced by the illustrations in materia medica, as discussed above, in
which all stages of the plants’ annual development are noted. As well as
any botanical or medicinal interest they might have, the fruit included in the
designs on imperial porcelains, such as the current bowl, would have been
chosen for their auspicious connotations as well as for their aesthetic appeal.
Although originally entering China from Central Asia, pomegranates have
been cultivated in China since the 3rd century BC and are a popular motif in
the decorative arts. With its many seeds the pomegranate (Punica granatum,
Chinese 石榴 shiliu) is associated with many children. It is often shown with
its skin split displaying the seeds inside. This is known as liukai baizi 榴開百子,
‘pomegranate revealing a hundred sons’. This fruit also evokes the saying: duo
zi duo shou 多子多壽 ‘many sons and many years of long life’. However, it is not Fig. 2 Blue and white bowl decorated with plucked sprays of fowers and
only the fruit of the pomegranate which is regarded as auspicious; the vibrant fruits, Xuande period, Ming dynasty © The Palace Museum
red fowers were also believed to ward of evil and were particularly associated
with Duanwujie 端午節, the Dragon Boat Festival, which is held on the ffth
day of the ffth lunar month and is considered the most pernicious day of the
year. Pomegranate is also one of the san duo 三多, or Three Abundances –
representing an abundance of sons.
The peach (Prunus persica, Chinese 桃子 taozi) is another of the san duo and
embodies the wish for an abundance of years, or long life. Peaches are perhaps
the most popular of all the symbols of long life, particularly in respect of the
emperor. This association with longevity is linked to the legend which states
that Xiwangmu 西王母, the Queen Mother of the West, lived in a fabulous
palace in the Kunlun mountains and had an orchard in which grew peach trees
which only ripened every three thousand years, but bestowed immortality on
anyone who ate one. To the lucky few, Xiwangmu would serve these peaches
of immortality, but there are additional stories of others trying to steal them.
The third of the Three Abundances is usually represented by the Buddha-hand
citron because its name (fo shou gan 佛手柑) provides a homonym for blessings
and longevity.
There is no Buddha-hand citron on the current bowl, however, its place in
the san duo has been taken by the persimmon (Diospyros kaki, Chinese 柿子
shizi). Persimmons have been grown in China at least since the Western Han Fig. 3 Blue and white bowl, Xuande mark and period. © The Collection of
National Palace Museum
dynasty, when they are recorded as growing in Shanglin imperial park

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