Page 31 - Sotheby's Dr. Wou Kiuan Collection CHINESE ART , Oct. 9, 2022

The present lot is exceptional for its large size and carefully composed design. Although
formal lotus scrolls with blooms supporting the bajixiang, Eight Buddhist Emblems,
were one of the classic patterns decorating objects with Buddhist connotations in the
Yongzheng period (1723-35), dishes of this intricate design are rare, and only a few closely
related pieces appear to be recorded.

Bajixiang were found on blue-and-white ceramics as supporting motifs as early as the Yuan
dynasty (1271-1368) and with time developed into a principal motif. The overall design of
this dish, however, is inspired by early Ming (1368-1644) prototypes; for bajixiang used in
connection with lotus flowers, see, for example, Mingdai Xuande guanyao jinghua tezhan
tulu / Catalogue of the Special Exhibition of Selected Hsüan-te Imperial Porcelains of the
Ming Dynasty, National Palace Museum, Taipei, 1998, cat. nos 44, 52, 93 and 116; for
flowering and fruiting branches, as here seen on the reverse, cat. nos 38, 47 and 62-3; for
dishes with a border of crashing waves, cat. nos 179-80 and 200. Related motifs but very
differently composed have been used on a smaller blue-and-white saucer-shaped dish
of Xuande (1426-35) mark and period, preserved in the National Palace Museum, Taipei
(accession no. gu-ci-7442), also included in the Museum’s exhibition ibid. cat. no. 184. The
Taipei dish is painted with a similar petal-panel rosette at the centre and a stylized lotus
scroll with blooms supporting the Eight Buddhist Emblems on the reverse.

Two closely related examples of Yongzheng mark and period appeared at auction: one
th
was sold at Christie’s Hong Kong, 30 May 2018, lot 3035; the other, with the blue
design set against a yellow ground, sold in these rooms, 20th November 1985, lot 156. A
slightly smaller blue-and-white 'bajixiang' dish, inscribed with a Qianlong mark and of the
period (1736-95), with a related composition but decorated with flying bats and florets
surrounding the stylised lotus at the centre, the cavetto with less densely arranged lotus
scrolls, the reverse with bats above crashing waves and rocks, was sold twice in these
rooms, 29th April 1992, lot 139 and 8th April 2011, lot 3131.

60 A JOURNEY THROUGH CHINA’S HISTORY THE DR WOU KIUAN COLLECTION PART II SOTHEBY’S HONG KONG 61