Page 118 - Fine Chinese Ceramics and Works of Art II

(additional views)

2266
A FINELY PAINTED DAYAZHAI OVOID GRISAILLE-DECORATED YELLOW-GROUND VASE
GUANGXU-EARLY REPUBLIC PERIOD, LATE 19TH-EARLY 20TH CENTURY

The tall, slender vase is decorated around the exterior en grisaille with a continuous scene of a bird perched on a wisteria
vine above roses and between a petal-lappet border below and a ruyi border at the mouth rim above. The vase is
inscribed in iron-red below the shoulder with a three-character inscription, Dayazhai, followed by an oval seal, tian
di yi jia chun (Spring throughout heaven and earth as one family). The interior and base are covered with turquoise
enamel, which on the base surrounds an iron-red yong qing chang chun (eternal prosperity and enduring spring) mark
within a double square.
17¡ in. (44.2 cm.) high

(mark)

$25,000-35,000

PROVENANCE:

Richfeld Antiques, New York, 1993.

The wisteria vine that decorates this vase is often seen on other Dayazhai wares, as the fower was a favorite of the Dowager
Empress Cixi, and also decorated a number of her robes. The bird shown perched on the thick trunk of the vine may depict the
Chinese huamei, so named for the distinctive marking around the bird’s eyes - a white outline that extends backwards as a white
stripe, thereby forming a ‘painted eyebrow’ (huamei).

Compare the present vase with the very similar decoration on a bowl in the collection of Sir Percival David illustrated by R. Scott
in Elegant Form and harmonious Decoration – Four Dynasties of Jingdezhen Porcelain, London, 1992, p. 173, no. 200.

清光緒 大雅齋黃地墨彩藤蘿花鳥紋瓶 礬紅「永慶長春」款