Page 114 - 2020 December 1 Bonhams Hong Kong, Fine Chinese Ceramics and Works of art

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A RARE PAIR OF FAMILLE ROSE PLAQUES ENAMELLED WITH The ‘Five Gods of Wufang’ (Wulaojun) are the five-fold manifestation
‘THE FIVE GODS OF WUFANG’ AND ‘THE THREE STAR GODS’ of the Supreme God of Heaven in Chinese mythology. They are
Qianlong considered to be the physical manifestation of the Daoist creator
Each panel of rectangular form, one delicately painted in bright and theological concept, Tian, ‘heaven’. Each of the Five Gods are
enamels with the Three Star Gods, Fu Lu Shou, engaged in various represented by a particular colour: Huangdi as the Yellow Deity, Cangdi
pursuits within a fenced garden with pine trees, rockworks and rivers, as the Blue-green Deity, Heidi as the Black Deity, Chidi as the Red
the other with the Five Gods of the Wufang, Wu Lao, admiring a scroll Deity, and Baidi as the White Deity. The concept of the Five Gods was
painting of a Taiji trigram held by two attendants, all in front of a small important in early Chinese culture and philosophy, concerning ideas
waterfall set within a rocky landscape, all finely detailed in pink enamel about the night sky and beliefs about the afterlife. They represented
with gilt details, the faces of each Immortal realistically rendered in fine the five sacred Chinese mountains, the five most important planets
detail with subtle shading, the central panel within a gilt border on a in the solar system, the five directions of space, and the five major
finely-engraved green sgraffiato ground. constellations that rotate around the North Star. The description of the
Each 53cm (20 7/8in) high x 38cm (15in) wide. (2). ‘Five Gods of Wufang’ admiring a scroll with a Taiji trigram (symbolising
the centre of the universe) became a popular theme in Song dynasty
HKD800,000 - 1,200,000 literature and later in decorative arts.
US$100,000 - 150,000

清乾隆 粉彩八仙獻壽圖瓷板掛屏

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