Page 114 - Bonhams Fine Chinese Art London Nov. 2019

The Property of a Gentleman 紳士藏品
84
AN EXCEPTIONALLY RARE AND LARGE DOUCAI ‘PHOENIX
AND LOTUS’ DISH
Qianlong seal mark and of the period
The large dish potted with wide flaring sides, meticulously painted on
the interior in brilliant enamels with a central medallion formed by a pair
of confronted phoenix with their wings outstretched and tails fanned
open, enclosed within a foliate scroll bearing four stylised blossoming
lotus heads enamelled in aubergine, green, yellow and iron-red, the
cavetto decorated with the Eight Buddhist Emblems bajixiang, tied
with fluttering ribbons amidst colourful wispy clouds, the everted rim
with eight further symbols on a rolling-wave ground, the reverse with
an elaborate lotus meander.
50.4cm (19 7/8in) diam.

£25,000 - 35,000
CNY220,000 - 310,000

清乾隆 鬥彩夔鳳八寶紋大盤
青花「大清乾隆年製」篆書款

Provenance: a distinguished Middle Eastern private collection

來源：中東顯赫私人收藏

The massive doucai charger was meant to impress and display the Only a small number of similar doucai dishes of such scale, Qianlong
technical virtuosity and abilities of the Imperial kilns in successfully firing seal mark and period, would appear to be recorded: the first, in the
a porcelain vessel of such impressive size. Nanjing Museum, illustrated in Treasures in the Royalty: The Official
Kiln Porcelain of the Chinese Qing Dynasty, Shanghai, 2003, pp.300-
In form and design the present dish follows directly from the 301; a second example included in the exhibition Imperial Life in the
Yongzheng period. Compare with a very similar doucai dish, Qing Dynasty: Treasures from the Shenyang Palace Museum, China,
Yongzheng mark and period, in the Qing Court Collection, similarly Singapore, 1989, illustrated as the frontispiece of the catalogue; a third
decorated but of smaller size (45.5cm diam.), illustrated in The example was sold at Christie’s London, 8 December 1986, lot 436;
Complete Collection of the Treasures of the Palace Museum: and a fourth example was sold at Sotheby’s Hong Kong, 13 November
Porcelains in Polychrome and Contrasting Colours, Hong Kong, 1990, lot 346 and again at Christie’s Hong Kong, 29 April 2001, lot
2007, no.231. 599, and is illustrated in Sotheby’s Hong Kong: Twenty Years, Hong
Kong, 1993, no.240.

For details of the charges payable in addition to the final Hammer Price of each Lot
112 | BONHAMS please refer to paragraphs 7 & 8 of the Notice to Bidders at the back of the catalogue.