Page 346 - Christies Fine Chinese Works of Art March 2016 New York

1640

A RARE PAIR OF FAMILLE ROSE BOWLS
SHENDE TANG ZHI MARK IN IRON-RED, DAOGUANG PERIOD (1821-
1850)

The deep, rounded sides of each bowl are delicately decorated
in famille rose enamels on one side with a pair of mandarin ducks
swimming amidst a lotus pond.

5æ in. (14.6 cm.) diam. (2)

$50,000-70,000 (base)

PROVENANCE

Imperial Oriental Art, New York, 1993.

Shendetang is a hall mark associated with a range of fne porcelains made
for the Hall for the Cultivation of Virtue, a summer residence of the Emperor
Daoguang.

In Designs as Signs: Decoration and Chinese Ceramics, Percival David
Foundation, London, 2001, Stacey Pierson explains that pairs of mandarin
ducks, yuan yang, represent marital fdelity or harmony as they are said
to mate for life. In association with lotus, homophonous with the word for
harmony (he), they can represent a wish for sons.

Compare the single Shende Tang-marked bowl and cover with a similar
design of a pair of mandarin ducks in a lotus pond sold at Sotheby’s Hong
Kong, 5-6 December 1978, lot 1016, and again on 3-4 December 2015, lot
513.

清道光 粉彩蓮塘鴛鴦圖盌一對 礬紅「慎德堂製」款

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