Page 121 - Fine Asian Works of Art December 19, 2016, SF

8191
A POLYCHROME ENAMELED PLAQUE
Wang Qi, dated by inscription to 1928
Of long rectangular section, humorously depicting seven blind men in
a violent altercation pulling on each other's queues and flailing their
canes at one another, below the date and lengthy poetic inscription
composed in the artist's characteristic flowing caoshu style beside his
seals reading Xichang Wang Qi and Tao mi.
8 x 23in (20.2 x 58.5cm) visible dimensions of porcelain

US$15,000 - 25,000 8191 (detail)

The ceramicist Wang Qi (1884-1937) seemed to regularly approach In addition to being a scathing portrait of the political turmoil of its
traditional or religious subject matter in quirky and iconoclastic ways. time, the present lot could depict the parable of the blind men and the
For example, a tall plaque offered in these rooms depicted the deity elephant. A Buddhist tale traditionally meant to encourage acceptance
Budai nonchalantly sitting on a struggling little boy (lot 8353, sale of views different than one's own, it's clear that the squabbling figures
21033 of 13 December 2013). Or in another example, he depicted in the present lot still have much to learn. Like in other examples of
the usually ferocious demon queller Zhong Kui sharing a resigned look his best work, Wang Qi has made facial expressions with a minimum
with an equally annoyed demon (lot 8186, sale 22510 of 10 December of brush strokes and of diminutive size but still displaying an arresting
2015). mixture of humor and pathos-- creating a slightly unsettling fun
appealing to the viewer's voyeuristic instincts.

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