Page 167 - Bonhams Chinese Paintings June 2015

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7291
A massive qianjiangcai enameled ‘Hundred Deer’ vase
Cheng Men (1833-1908), dated by inscription to 1877
Thickly formed with a wide cylindrical neck, full ovoid body and tall foot 7292
molded with a raised string band, the walls painted in pale gray and
brown enamels depicting a large herd of deer grazing amid towering
peaks and foliage drawn in pale blue, green and black enamels, the
body inscribed in black enamel Mengyun jushi zhi, the cyclical date
dingchou dong corresponding to the winter of 1877 and signed
Cheng Men followed by seals reading Men and xue li, the wide foot
and recessed base left unglazed.
25 1/2in (64.7cm) high
$10,000 - 12,000
The artist Cheng Men was one of the most famous late Qing painters
of porcelain in the qianjiang style, using pale gradations of black and
colored enamels in imitation of Chinese literati landscape painting.
For a discussion of the technique and his importance, see Simon
Kwan, Chinese Porcelain of the Republic Period, 2008, pp. 11-12 (in
Chinese) and pp. 34-36 (in English); and cat. nos. 1 & 2, pp. 60-63 for
two examples of his work.
A number of containers and landscape plaques either by or after the
painter were sold in our London, New Bond Street sale 18981, 10
November 2011, in particular lot 597. A square-sectioned vase by the
artist sold most recently in our San Francisco sale 22378, 10 March
2015, lot 8170. However the present vase seems to be the largest
work by Cheng Men to come onto the auction market.
Property from an important private collection,
California
Two famille rose enameled libation cups
The first, Guangxu period and dated by inscription to 1908, molded
in the shape of a flower, identified either as a peony or a lotus, with
interior and exterior walls enameled in shades of rose, a small drainage
hole in the floor of the well placed within a gourd-shaped reserve
dotted with yellow enamel stamens, the hole connecting to the hollow
stem of lime green enamel finished with tiny black enameled dots
and the long inscription da Qing Guangxu sanshi-shi nian Anhui Taihu
fujin qiucao jinian bei (Souvenir cup of the Autumn military exercises
at Lake Tai, Anhui in the thirty-fourth year of the Guangxu reign of
the great Qing); the second cup of practically identical form and
decoration, also Guangxu period but without the inscription. [2]
7 1/2in (19cm) long
$7,000 - 9,000
For a similarly inscribed peony cup in the Victoria & Albert Museum,
with yellow-dotted stamen reserve of similar gourd shape around
the drainage hole but of slightly larger size, see Ming Wilson, Rare
Marks on Chinese Ceramics, 1998. no. 11, pp. 42-43 (19.7cm
long). The stamen reserve of the same shape also appears in a pair
of cups of described as in the shape of an Indian lotus by H. A. van
Oort in Chinese Porcelain of the 19th and 20th centuries, pl. 95,
p. 76 (17cm long, also as Guangxu, dated 1908). The example in
the Palace Museum is also described as a lotus cup: see Gugong
Bowuyuan Cang Wenwu Zhenpin Quanji 39: Falangcai Fencai (The
Complete Collection of the Treasures of the Palace Museum, Beijing
39: Porcelains with Cloisonné Enamel Decoration and Famille Rose
Decoration), 2008, no. 249, p. 280.
Fine Chinese Works of Art and Paintings | 165