Page 342 - CHRISTIE'S Chinese Ceramics & Works of Art 09/14 - 15 / 17

PROPERTY FROM THE ANNA-MARIA AND STEPHEN KELLEN FOUNDATION, NEW YORK

1224
A FAMILLE VERTE ‘APRICOT BLOSSOM’ ‘MONTH’ CUP

KANGXI SIX-CHARACTER MARK IN UNDERGLAZE BLUE WITHIN A DOUBLE CIRCLE AND OF
THE PERIOD (1662-1722)
The cup is delicately decorated on one side with a fowering apricot tree amidst grasses, rocks and plants,
the reverse with a poetic inscription referring to the scene, followed by a single-character seal mark, shang
(appreciation)
2 in. (4.9 cm.) high

$25,000-35,000

The poetic inscription reads:

Qingxiang he suyu, jiase chu qingyan (‘Its clear fragrance harmonizes with the scent of over-night rain, its
beautiful color surpasses the brilliance of sunshine refected of the haze.’)

The couplet is taken from the poem, In Reply to Zhangsun Yi for Sending me Apricot from Lanxi, by the
Tang dynasty poet Qian Qi (AD 710-780).

The fower depicted on this particular cup is apricot blossom (xinghua), the fower of the second lunar
month. Since this was the month in which the imperial examinations were held, the apricot blossom has
also become the ‘successful candidate’s fower’, as well as being a symbol of a beautiful woman.
清康熙 五彩「杏花」花神盃 雙圈三行六字楷書款

(mark)

(another view)

334