Page 143 - Important Chinese Art Hong Kong April 2, 2019 Sotheby's

clusters of melon vine, illustrated in Regina Krahl, Chinese Antiquity to the Tang Dynasty, Hong Kong, 2000, p. 502.
Ceramics from the Meiyintang Collection, London, 1994, Popularly, melons are an auspicious symbol for prosperity
vol. 2, no. 677. A dish from the Jiajing period (1522-1566) and a long lineage of sons, as phrased in the Chinese proverb
features an overall pattern of melon vines; see the exhibition guadie mianmian.
catalogue Lanbai Huiying/Radiating Hues of Blue and White. An identical dish is in the Palace Museum in Beijing,
Ming Dynasty Blue-and-White Porcelains in the National illustrated in Geng Baochang, Gugong Bowuyuan cang
Palace Museum Collection, Taipei, 2016, no. 98. Ming chu Qinghua ci [Early blue-and-white porcelain in the
Not only on porcelain were melons a favoured theme, but Palace Museum], Beijing, 2002, vol. 2, pl. 201. Another is
also on ink paintings, compare an album leaf of the late included in James Spencer, Zhongguo Lidai taoci xuanji/
Yuan or early Ming dynasty with seals dating to around the Selected Chinese Ceramics from Han to Qing Dynasties,
Chenghua period, included in the exhibition catalogue Seven Chang Foundation, Taipei, 1990, cat. no. 125. See another
Classical Paintings, Eskenazi Ltd, London, 2009, no. 7. comparable charger in the Tianminlou collection, sold from
these rooms, 23rd of May, 1978, lot 131, and illustrated in
Melons were generally associated with the virtue of loyalty Chinese Porcelain in the S.C. Ko Tianminlou Collection, Hong
due to its connection with the historical figure of Shao Ping, Kong, 1987, cat. no. 53. Two other similar dishes were sold
Marquis of Dongling during the Qin dynasty (221-206 BC) in our rooms: one from the Jingguangtang collection, sold
who lost his rank and wealth when the Han (206 BC-AD 220) in our London rooms, 7th June 1988, lot 273, and exhibited
replaced the Qin dynasty. Not accepting the new rule, he left in Gems of Chinese Art: Selections of Chinese Ceramics and
outside the capital Chang’an, to grow melons, which became Bronzes from the Tsui Art Foundation, The Empress Palace
renowned for their fine quality as Dongling melons. His Museum, Singapore, 1992, no. 95; the other in New York,
loyalty was immortalized in a poem by Tao Yuanming (354- 23rd September 1997, lot 282.
427), quoted in John Minford and Joseph Lau, An Anthology
of Translations, Classical Chinese Literature, vol. 1: From