Page 81 - Fine Chinese Ceramics and Works of Art II

2225 2225
A FAMILLE VERTE DISH
EARLY KANGXI PERIOD, CIRCA 1670 2226

The dish is decorated in the interior with 79
two ladies, probably the Qiao sisters
(Erqiao), sitting side by side in a garden
setting, one seated on a cloth-draped garden
stool, holding a scroll, the other with a ruyi
scepter placed on the table beside her. The
dish is supported on an unglazed channeled
foot.
11 in. (7.9 cm.) diam.

$6,000-8,000

PROVENANCE:

The Chinese Porcelain Company, New
York.

The Qiao sisters appear in the Romance of
the Three Kingdoms. The elder married the
powerful warlord Sun Ce, while the younger
married the general Zhou Yu. Their depiction
was a popular one during the Qing dynasty, and
they are usually dressed and coiffed, as here, in
Qing style.

The unglazed channeled foot that appears on
the present dish appears to have been used by
the potters at Jingdezhen for a short period of
time around 1670, and disappears in the second
half of the Kangxi period. For other examples
of Kangxi-period dishes with this feature see An
Era of Inspiration, 17th Century Porcelain from
the Collection of Julia and John Curtis; Christie’s
New York, lots 3581, 3583, and 3589.

清康熙初 1670年前後
五彩「二喬讀書」圖盤

PROPERTY FROM A PRIVATE CANADIAN
COLLECTION

2226
A LARGE FAMILLE VERTE BARBED DISH
KANGXI PERIOD (1662-1722)

The shallow dish is decorated on the
interior with a battle scene, and with crane
medallions reserved on an iron-red diaper
ground on the wide, everted rim with barbed
edge. An artemisia leaf mark within a double
circle is in underglaze blue on the base.
14¬ in. (37 cm.) diam.

$6,000-8,000

The present dish belongs to a group of Kangxi
famille verte dishes depicting various narrative
scenes from popular novels or dramas, with
brocade decorations on the rims. Two such
examples are illustrated by Regina Krahl and
Clarissa von Spee in Chinese Ceramics from the
Gulexuan Collection, Germany, 2003, nos. 101
and 102. Another was included in the exhibition,
Weaving China’s Past: The Amy S. Clague
Collection of Chinese Textiles, Phoenix Art
Museum, 2000, no. 15. A further example is in
the Victoria and Albert Museum, London, from
the Salting Bequest (accession no. C.1202-1910).

A related pair of famille verte chargers, each also
decorated with battle scenes from historical plays
or novels, was sold at Christie’s New York, 15-16
March 2015, lot 2152.

清康熙 五彩人物故事圖盤