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’.











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