Page 140 - 2021 March 15th Fine Chinese Paintings and Works of Art, Bonhams NYC New York

PROPERTY FROM A PRIVATE AMERICAN COLLECTION The bowl illustrates a scene and the text from the famous Ode to the
Red Cliff, composed by the celebrated Northern Song poet, Su Shi
160 (1037-1096), to commemorate his trips to the historical battlefield
A LARGE INSCRIBED BLUE AND WHITE ‘RED CLIFF VISIT’ of Red Nose Cliffs Chibifu during his political exile. Another example
of the same size but painted with a different section of the ode and
DEEP BOWL
Late Ming-Early Qing (1640-1670) bearing a Yongle mark at the interior center, rather than the Chenghua
The deep rounded sides painted to the exterior with a panel enclosing of our example, was sold at Rob Michiels Auctions, Bruges, Belgium,
a scene with the poet Su Shi and two companions in a boat seated at 9 December 2018, lot 488. Another similar ‘Red Cliff’ bowl with a
a low table under a canopy enjoying wine, an oarsman standing at the Yongle mark was published by Stephen Little, Chinese Ceramics of the
helm, the scene enclosed by a larger continuous calligraphy panel with Transitional Period (1620-1683), China Institute of America, New York,
an excerpt from Su Shi’s Ode to the Red Cliff, the interior painted with 1989, pp.36-37, pl.1a
two encircled bands of lotus flower-heads and water fronds, one at the
rim, the other at the well, all centered by a Chenghua four-character For a group of five smaller bowls, of the cruder export variety, but
mark. painted with the same subject and poetic inscription and from the
8 3/4in (22.2cm) diameter famed “Hatcher Cargo”, see Christie’s, Amsterdam, 21 June 2011, lot
495 and previously offered in the preceding sales of the Hatcher Cargo
at Christie’s, Amsterdam in 1984. The famous cargo was recovered
$2,500 - 3,500 from the wreck of an Asian vessel in the South China Sea by Captain
Michael Hatcher in 1983.
明末清初 青花赤壁賦圖大盌
A slightly later Kangxi marked brushpot decorated with a closely
related scene and inscription, in the Palace Museum, Beijing, is
illustrated by Chen Runmin, Qing Shunzhi Kangxi chao qinghua ci
[Qing blue and white porcelain from the Shunzhi and Kangxi periods],
Beijing, 2005, pl. 206

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