Page 104 - Christies Asia Week 2015 Chinese Works of Art
P. 104
PROPERTY FROM A PRIVATE DALLAS COLLECTION The design, in a somewhat paler famille rose palette, and in a slightly more
2073 open format where white background is visible between the fowers and
A VERY RARE AND FINELY ENAMELED FAMILLE ROSE leaves, and without iron-red, frst appears during the Yongzheng period
MILLEFLEURS BOWL (1723-1735), as represented by a small bowl in the Qing Court collection,
JIAQING SIX-CHARACTER SEAL MARK IN UNDERGLAZE BLUE AND OF THE illustrated in The Complete Collection of Treasures of the Palace Museum
PERIOD (1796-1820) - 39 - Porcelains with Cloisonne Enamel Decoration and Famille Rose
Decoration, Hong Kong, 1999, p. 18, no. 15. Another similar Yongzheng-
The bowl is thinly potted with deep sides that fare in a curve marked bowl, formerly in the Edward T. Chow Collection, is illustrated
towards the rim and are fnely enameled in a rich famille rose palette by M. Beurdeley and G. Raindre in Qing Porcelain - Famille Verte, Famille
on the exterior with a dense design of a multitude of various fowers Rose, London, 1987, p. 102, pl. 146. Two other similar bowls have been
between narrow gilt borders on the mouth rim and the edge of the sold at Christie’s, one in Hong Kong, 28 October 2002, lot 606, and one in
foot. New York, 15 September 2009, lot 371. This same design continued into
5¿ in. (13 cm.) diam. the Qianlong period as seen on a bowl from the Robert Chang Collection
sold at Christie’s Hong Kong, 31 October 2000, lot 811, that has a Cai Xiu
$80,000-120,000 Tang zhi mark in blue enamel. Also, during the Qianlong period a variation
of this design appeared, with the design becoming more dense, allowing
PROVENANCE: no visible white space between the fowers and leaves. The famille rose
palette also became richer and with more realistic shading of the enamels,
S. Marchant & Son, London, March 2001. as well as with the addition of iron red. This version of the pattern is
well represented by a large Qianlong-marked vase in the Musée Guimet,
The dense arrangement of various fowers that decorates this bowl is illustrated by Beurdeley and Raindre, op. cit., pp. 118-19, pls. 164 and
known as wanhuajin (myriad fower brocade), as well as baihuadi (ground 165. Another well-known Qianlong-marked example is the bottle vase
of one hundred fowers), and, according to T. T. Bartholomew in Hidden in the Asian Art Museum of San Francisco, illustrated by He Li in Chinese
Meanings in Chinese Art, Asian Art Museum of San Francisco, 2006, p. Ceramics, New York, 1996, p. 307, no. 664. See, also, the double-gourd
146, during the Qing dynasty the design conveyed the hope that the Qing vase decorated with this design sold at Christie’s London, 11 November
dynasty “would last as long as fowers continue to bloom.” 2003, lot 94.
(mark) This version of the design, with its rich interweaving of the fowers to form
a harmonious design, continued to be admired during the reign of the
Jiaqing emperor. A fne example of this is the Jiaqing-marked vase in the
Shanghai Museum illustrated in Zhongguo taoci quanji, vol. 21, Shanghai,
1981, pl. 144. A pair of cups with this design and iron-red Jiaqing
marks from the Edward T. Chow Collection was illustrated by C. and M.
Beurdeley in La Ceramique Chinoise, Fribourg, 1974, no. 151, and later
sold at Sotheby’s Hong Kong, The Edward T. Chow Collection, Part One,
25 November 1989, lot 171, and again at Christie’s Hong Kong, 29-30
April 2002, lot 708. Another pair of similar cups was sold at Christie’s New
York, 21 September 2004, lot 343, and a single cup at Christie’s Hong
Kong, 27 May 2008, lot 1751. See, also, the bowl of the same shape and
size as the current bowl, also with an underglaze blue Jiaqing mark, but
with the design enameled in pastel shades of yellow, blue green, white
and hints of pink, that also covers the interior, illustrated by He Li, op. cit.,
Chinese Ceramics, p. 308, no. 667.
清嘉慶 粉彩萬花紋盌 六字篆書款
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