Page 116 - 2020 December 1 Bonhams Hong Kong, Fine Chinese Ceramics and Works of art

160
A RARE IMPERIAL FAMILLE ROSE ‘BOYS’ JAR
Daoguang seal mark and of the period
The ovoid body finely enamelled with an older boy clothed in a rose-
enamelled robe and wearing a gold official’s cap, holding aloft a large
golden helmet above his head as four younger boys leap excitedly to
reach for it, all set within a scene of rockwork and pines continuing
onto the reverse decorated with a flowering pomegranate branch laden
with two heavy fruit bursting open and one unripe fruit, all beneath
turquoise-ground ruyi-head borders containing double-seeded lotus
scrolls enclosing four bats at the neck and simple lotus scrolls at the
foot, the interior and underside glazed in turquoise.
19.1cm (7 1/2in) high.
HKD1,200,000 - 1,500,000
US$150,000 - 190,000
清道光 松石綠地粉彩「五子奪魁」圖罐 礬紅「大清道光年製」篆書款

Provenance:
An English private collection

來源：
英國私人舊藏

The charming scene on the present vase depicting five boys fighting 罐直口，短頸，溜肩，腹下漸收，臥足。内及底施松石綠釉。外壁上
for a helmet is a very popular motif in China, meaning ‘five boys 下綠地粉彩飾纏枝番蓮紋，邊環飾一周如意雲頭紋。腹部留白處通景
competing for distinction’, which symbolises the blessing for one’s son 繪嬰戲圖，中間童子頭戴金冠，高舉金盔，身邊圍繞四個童子，高舉
to achieve outstanding results in the Civil Service examinations. Helmet 雙手爭奪金盔。童子嬉於洞石花樹之間，身著彩色長衣，姿態各異。
(kui 魁) is a pun for ‘leader’, which also indicates first place in the 腹部背面繪石榴樹，樹上結是三顆石榴，罐底施松石綠釉，留白處礬
Palace examination. The ‘five boys’ refer to the children of Dou Yujun 紅書「大清道光年製」篆書款。
(竇禹鈞), the scholar, educator and official during the Five Dynasties
period (907-960 AD), whose eminent sons achieved remarkable 嬰戲題材在嘉慶、道光時期的官窯瓷器上經常出現。「五子奪魁」故事
success in the Civil Service examinations, earning him reverence as the 源於五代晚期漁陽人竇禹鈞教子有方，五個兒子均功名成就，被人稱為
ideal parent. 「燕山竇氏五龍」，後逐演變為吉祥題材，取「盔」之諧音，寄託子孫
高中狀元之美意，通景配以石榴花樹，更添加「兒孫滿堂」之意。
Compare with related Daoguang vases, but decorated with a ruby
ground around the elongated neck and foot, such as one depicting 參看北京故宮博物院藏兩例道光粉彩瓶，一例飾洞石、石榴及蘭花，
children in a Dragon Boat Race, and another decorated with fruiting 另一例則飾粉彩紫地龍舟圖，著錄於《故宮博物院藏文物珍品大系：
pomegranate trees, illustrated in The Complete Collection of Treasures 琺瑯彩·粉彩》，香港，1999年，圖版189及194。
of the Palace Museum: Porcelains with Cloisonné Enamel Decoration
and Famille-Rose Decoration, Hong Kong, 1999, pls.189 and 194. 另見香港蘇富比曾售出一例清道光松石綠地粉彩瓶，亦繪「五子奪
魁」圖，2010年10月7日，拍品編號2162。
A famille rose bottle vase, Daoguang mark and period, similarly
enamelled with four boys in a garden around an older boy wearing a
gold official’s cap and holding a golden helmet over his head, was sold
at Sotheby’s Hong Kong on 7 October 2010, lot 2162.

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