Page 53 - Sothebys Imperial Porcelain Private Collection
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This joyful bowl, with its perfectly potted body and adorable collections, illustrated in Regina Krahl, Chinese Ceramics from
design, is characteristic of the refined and idiosyncratic the Meiyintang Collection, vol. 4, London, 2010, pl. 1671, and
porcelains of the Chenghua reign (1465-1487). Its fine sold in these rooms, 9th October 2012, lot 46.
porcelain body is endowed with a sophisticated design
Two stacks with a total of ten similar bowls are depicted
executed in a captivating and complex, yet free and easy,
in the Guwantu [Pictures of Antiques] handscroll from the
manner, all under an outstanding tactile glaze.
collection of Sir Percival David in the British Museum, London,
The precise dating of these unmarked bowls has been which records objects from the imperial collection during the
much debated. They are now mostly attributed either to the Yongzheng reign (1723-1735) and is dated in accordance with
Chenghua reign (AD 1465-87) or the ‘Interregnum’ period 1728 (see Regina Krahl, ibid., p. 49, fig. 12).
(AD 1436-64) of the three short reigns of Zhengtong, Jingtai
Compare bowls with four various designs of boys at play
and Tianshun, the only mid-Ming periods when imaginatively
of Chenghua mark and period, recovered from the latest
painted porcelains of imperial quality, but without reign Chenghua stratum of the waste heaps of the Ming imperial
marks, are known to have been made. The design was first
kilns at Jingdezhen, all related to but different from the present
developed in the Yongle period (AD 1403-24), as seen in the
design; see the exhibition catalogue The Emperor’s broken
exhibition catalogue Chinese Porcelain. The S.C. Ko Tianminlou
china. Reconstructing Chenghua porcelain, Sotheby’s, London,
Collection, Hong Kong Museum of Art, Hong Kong, 1987, cat. 1995, cat. nos 54-57, where two are illustrated pp. 52-53 and
no. 15; and is also known from examples of Xuande mark and
dust jacket; the other two illustrated in the exhibition catalogue
period (AD 1426-35), see Mingdai Xuande guanyao jinghua
A Legacy of Chenghua: Imperial Porcelain of the Chenghua
tezhan tulu/Catalogue of the Special Exhibition of Selected
Reign Excavated from Zhushan, Jingdezhen, The Tsui Museum
Hsüan-te Imperial Porcelains of the Ming Dynasty, National of Art, Hong Kong, 1993, nos C72 and C73.
Palace Museum, Taipei, 1998, no. 152.
The traditional ‘100 boys’ (baizi) theme of the Song dynasty
Two bowls of this type in the Shanghai Museum are illustrated (960-1279) was revived and highly popular in the decorative
in Lu Minghua, Shanghai Bowuguan zangpin yanjiu daxi/
arts of the Ming dynasty. Throughout Chinese history, the
Studies of the Shanghai Museum Collections : A Series of
strong desire for sons was directly related to the need for
Monographs. Mingdai guanyao ciqi [Ming imperial porcelain],
male offspring to perform ancestral sacrifices and ensure the
Shanghai, 2007, pls 3-55 and 56, attributed to the mid-15th continuation of the family line. By the Ming dynasty, however,
century; another bowl attributed to the Zhengde period
the birth of sons was not enough; families hoped for sons
(1506-1521) is published in Geng Baochang, Ming Qing ciqi
who would excel in their studies and take top honours in the
jianding [Appraisal of Ming and Qing porcelain], Hong Kong,
civil examinations, bringing wealth and honour. Thus the boys
1993, p. 117, fig. 220; and one in the British Museum, London, depicted in Ming court paintings and the decorative arts are
is published in Jessica Harrison-Hall, Ming Ceramics in the
not merely ordinary boys at play; well-dressed and placed
British Museum, London, 2001, no. 6: 2, attributed to the
in a courtyard of the upper class, they engage in activities
Chenghua reign. Further bowls with Chenghua attributions
representative of longevity, prosperity, well-being and the
include one, from the collections of George Eumorfopoulos, embodiment of adult aspirations. For example, the motif of
Mrs Alfred Clark, Frederick Knight and T.Y. Chao, sold in our
a boy carrying a lotus leaf on the present bowl represents
London rooms in 1940, and three times in these rooms, in
fertility and dates back to the Song dynasty whereby they
1982, 1985 and, most recently, 19th May 1987, lot 240; and
carried lotus leaves during the Qixi (Double Seven) festival;
another, from the collections of A.D. Brankston, H.R.N. Norton placed next to the boy riding a hobby horse, a pun for ‘on
and Raymond F.A. Riesco, sold at Christie’s Hong Kong, 27th
top of a horse’, they together convey the wish for noble
November 2013, lot 3113. See also a bowl from the President
descendants to come immediately or soon. Furthermore, the
Herbert Hoover, Mr and Mrs Allan Hoover and Meiyintang
boys catching fish (yu) swimming in a large jardinière is a pun
for ‘abundance’.
IMPERIAL PORCELAIN FROM A DISTINGUISHED PRIVATE COLLECTION 51