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A RED AND GREEN-ENAMELED The playful scene adorning this square bowl Closely related bowls are held in important
‘BOYS’ SQUARE BOWL illustrates the artistic vitality characteristic of private and museum collections worldwide; see
porcelain designs of the Jiajing period (r. 1522- one in the Staatliche Kunstsammlungen Dresden,
JIAJING MARK AND PERIOD
1566). Painted in red and green enamels of Dresden, included in the Museum’s exhibition,
of square section, potted with deep rounded sides children at play, symbolic of the Confucian ideal Chinesisches Porzellan der Mingdynastie. 14. bis
rising from a tapered foot to a ! ared rim, the for the education and advancement of many 17. Jahrhundert, 1987, cat. no. 27; one from the
exterior painted in green outlined in black with a sons, this decorative theme was especially proli# c Baur Collection, published in John Ayers, Chinese
continuous scene depicting eight boys cheerfully during this period in response to the emperor’s Ceramics in The Baur Collection, vol. 1, Geneva,
engaged in various pursuits in a garden landscape desire for many sons. Another meaning of this 1999, pl. 87; and a third bowl, from the S.C. Ko
with verdant vegetation and rockwork, including motif is suggested by Rosemary E. Scott in Tianminlou Collection, included in the exhibition
! ying a kite, sitting astride a hobby horse, all Percival David Foundation of Chinese Art, London, Chinese Porcelain. The S. C. Ko Tianminlou
framed by narrow green-enameled borders at the 1989, p.80, where the author notes that scenes Collection, Hong Kong Museum of Art, Hong
rim and foot, the interior similarly decorated and of boys at play may be linked to the Daoist theme Kong, 1987, pl. 71. See also a bowl of this type
centered with a square panel enclosing a pine of the old regaining their youth. As the Jiajing illustrated in Sekai toji zenshu/ Ceramic Art of the
tree twisted to form a shou character, with lingzhi emperor was a devout Daoist and sought to World, vol. 11, Tokyo, 1955, pl. 107 (bottom); and
growing beneath, the with a six-character mark in # nd the elixir of immortality throughout his life, two further examples sold in our London rooms,
underglaze blue, all reserved on a deep iron-red decoration in! uenced by Daoist iconography was one, included in the Exhibition of Ancient Chinese
ground prevalent at court. Ceramics from The Collection of The Kau Chi
Width 5⅛ in., 13.1 cm Society of Chinese Art, The Chinese University of
Hong Kong, Hong Kong, 1981, cat. no. 102, sold,
PROVENANCE 9th June 1987, lot 247, and the other, 10th June
Japanese Private Collection (by repute). 1986, lot 253.
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$ 80,000-120,000
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38 SOTHEBY’S