Page 69 - Christie's Fine Chinese Paintings March 19 2019 Auction

Consolidated Armamentarium Pharmacopoeia of the Zhenghe Reign). Because
they grow in large clusters on the vine, grapes symbolise a wish for ceaseless
generations of sons and grandsons.

There is one fruiting spray depicted on this bowl which is hard to identify
with complete certainty, but the two possibilities are both auspicious in
their meaning. This fruiting spray may represent crab-apple or loquat. The
Chinese fowering crab-apple (Malus spectabilis, Chinese 海棠 haitang), is
often used in rebuses to stand for ‘hall’ (tang 堂) and by extension the home
and family. Thus, when crab-apple is combined with other auspicious motifs,
their good wishes are attached to the whole family. In later periods crab-apple
is most frequently depicted in its fowering phase, and is often combined with
magnolia and peony to form the auspicious phrase yutang fugui
玉堂富貴 ‘wealth and rank in the Jade Hall’, or ‘may your noble house be blessed
with wealth and honour’.
Loquat (Eriobotrya japonica, Chinese 枇杷 pipa) fruit, being golden in colour
are associated with gold and, therefore, wealth. The plant is also regarded as
auspicious because it can be seen as embodying the spirit of all four seasons.
It has buds in autumn, blossoms in winter, sets its fruit in spring, and the fruit
ripen in summer. Loquats are sometimes selected by artists for paintings of
the ‘fve auspicious ones’ wurui 五瑞, which are displayed at Duanwujie. The
name of the fruit pipa comes from the fact that its shape resembles that of the
musical instrument of the same name.

67