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A FINELY ENAMELED DOUCAI A closely related bowl, from the Qing Court 2008
‘MEDALLION’ CONICAL BOWL collection and still in Beijing, is illustrated in
YONGZHENG MARK AND PERIOD Kangxi, Yongzheng, Qianlong. Qing Porcelain from
the Palace Museum Collection, Hong Kong, 1989,
well potted, the ared sides rising from a short pl. 31; another in the Nelson-Atkins Museum of
straight foot to a slightly everted rim, delicately Art, Kansas City, is published in Sekai toji zenshu,
enameled in soft pastel tones with four oral vol. 12, Tokyo, 1956, pl. 64 (bottom); a third, in
medallions to the exterior, each enclosing lotus, the Meiyingtang collection, is illustrated in Regina
peony, prunus and chrysanthemum divided by Krahl, Chinese Ceramics from the Meiyintang
stylized foliage scroll, the interior centered with Collection, vol. IV, pt. II, pl. 1747; and an additional
two butter ies within an underglaze blue double- example, in the Gulbenkian Museum of Oriental
circle, repeated at the rim and foot, the base with Art and Archaeology, University of Durham, is
a six-character mark in underglaze blue illustrated in Ireneus Laszlo Legeza, A Descriptive
Diameter 8¾ in., 22.6 cm and Illustrated Catalogue of the Malcom
Macdonald Collection of Chinese Art, London,
PROVENANCE 1972, pl. CXXXIX. Further similar examples
include a bowl from the collection of Paul and
English Private Collection, until 2008. Helen Bernat, sold in our Hong Kong rooms, 15th
European Private Collection. November 1988, lot 10; and another sold in our
London rooms, 9th November 2005, lot 301.
The four owers blossoming in the enameled
medallions—peony, lotus, chrysanthemum, and See also a bowl penciled with this design
prunus—represent the four seasons. This trope, in underglaze blue, from the Ernst Ohlmer
also known as the ‘Four Gentlemen’, emerged collection, now in the Roemer Museum,
during the Song dynasty (960-1279) and Hildesheim, illustrated in Ulrich Wiesner,
continued as a popular decorative motif through Chinesisches Porzellan, Mainz am Rhein, 1981,
the Qing dynasty. The simultaneous e orescence pl. 45.
of plants that normally bloom at di erent times
of the year symbolizes the health of the universal $ 50,000-70,000
order and the ourishing of all things within it.
IMPORTANT CHINESE ART 29
