Page 98 - Chinese Art From Two American Collections, April 5, 2017 Hong Kong

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A BLUE AND WHITE ‘THREE FRIENDS’ VASE 清雍正 青花歲寒三友鳳尾瓶
QING DYNASTY, YONGZHENG PERIOD
此鳳尾尊繪有祥瑞圖紋「歲寒三友」，松竹凌寒而立，經
sturdily potted with a baluster body surmounted by a tall 冬常青，梅迎新歲，先於群芳著花。「三友」譬喻逢絕境
trumpet neck flaring at the rim, the body and neck similarly 而堅毅剛直，亦含長壽之意。此語出自宋代忠義林景熙
painted with a continuous scene depicting the ‘Three Friends （1241-1310年），自元至清，歲寒三友飾紋甚為風靡。
of Winter’, including tall bamboo shoots stemming from jagged
rocks and trees with boughs of pine and branches of flowering
prunus below a full moon, all divided by line borders
42.9 cm, 16⅞ in.

HK$ 250,000-350,000
US$ 32,300-45,200

This vase is painted with the highly auspicious motif of the
‘Three Friends of Winter’, with the pine and bamboo, which
remain green through the cold winter, and the prunus tree,
the first tree to blossom each year. These three plants
are representative of fortitude and uprightness in adverse
conditions, as well as symbolic of longevity. The origin of the
term is found as early as the writings of the Song loyalist Lin
Chingxi (1241-1310), and was a popular decorative motif from
the Yuan dynasty through the Qing period.

96 SOTHEBY’S 蘇富比