Page 36 - Bonhams NYC Chinese works of Art March 2019

A Yongle period dish, Kangxi Yuzhi mark and enamels of the period;
image courtesy of the National Palace Museum, Taipei

A Hongzhi mark and period bowl, later enamelled during the
Yongzheng period; images courtesy of the Art Institute of Chicago

Quail designs appear in the Yongzheng period on several bowls and La Ceramique Chinoise, Brussels, 1954, pl. XCII; a fourth bowl was
dishes, examples of which are extant in important museum collections. included by Yamanaka & Co. in their catalog Grand Exhibition of
Ancient Chinese and Corean Works of Art, Osaka, 1934, no. 350;
A rare design of quail and flowers amidst rockwork, with very similar and see also another such bowl illustrated in Handbook of the Mr
style of ‘pearl’-grass ground enamelling, the decoration continuing and Mrs John D. Rockefeller 3rd Collection, New York, 1981, pl. 82;
over the rim in guoqiangzhi style and with similar treatment of the iron- another bowl from the Alfred and Ivy Clark collection was exhibited
red enamels on the lower body of each quail and style of feathers, was in the Oriental Ceramic Society exhibition catalog Enamelled Manchu
enamelled during the Yongzheng period on an earlier Hongzhi mark Polychrome, 1951, no. 176, and was later sold at Sotheby’s, London,
and period bowl, in the Art Institute of Chicago (no.rx17560/117). 25 March 1975, lot 138. See also a related Yongzheng bowl, enameled
Arguably, the Chicago ‘quail’ bowl is possibly the earliest example of with quail on a riverbank, but with a pheasant on a rock and a poetic
quail-decorated pieces by the Imperial Workshops. This possibility is inscription, in the National Palace Museum, Taipei, illustrated in Special
further substantiated by the example of another Ming porcelain dish Exhibition of Ch’ing Dynasty Enamelled Porcelains of the Imperial
dated to the Yongle period which was later enamelled by the Imperial Ateliers, Taipei, 1992, pp. 74-75, no. 26.
Workshops in the falangcai palette during the Kangxi reign and bears
a Kangxi Yuzhi mark, in the National Palace Museum, Taipei, illustrated For related quail, prunus and nandina decorated dishes, Yongzheng
in Special Exhibition of Ch’ing Dynasty Enamelled Porcelains of the six-character mark within a double square and of the period, see
Imperial Ateliers, Taipei, 1992, no.1. The very close similarly of the one from the Avery Brundage collection at the Asian Art Museum of
‘pearl’-grass ground decoration on the present bowl, would therefore San Francisco, illustrated by H. Moss, By Imperial Command, Hong
indicate a near date of production, and most probably earlier than the Kong, 1976, pl. 61. See also a pair of dishes from the Barbara Hutton
Baur Foundation example, which differs in the type of stippled-grass collection, illustrated by R. P. Griffing Jr., Catalogue, Honolulu Academy
ground. of Arts, 1956-1957, pl. XXIV, which was offered by Christie’s Hong
Kong, 28 November 2005.
A famille rose bowl, Yongzheng six-character mark within a double
circle and of the period, similarly decorated on the exterior with quail Much admired in China for their courage and fighting spirit, pairs
design but with prunus and nandina (symbolizing spring), with the of quail, shuang an, are a homophone for ‘peace and prosperity’.
interior undecorated, is illustrated by J. Ayers, Chinese Ceramics in Chrysanthemums ju, are among the earliest cultivated flowers in China.
the Baur Collection, vol. 2, Geneva, 1999, p. 114, no. 227 (A598); Blooming in the colder months, they symbolize fortitude as well as
another such bowl, previously from the Mount Trust and the Meiyintang longevity, due to the belief in their medicinal properties said to extend
collections, was exhibited by the Oriental Ceramics Society in the one’s life and are also associated with the autumn season. Combined
Arts of the Ch’ing Dynasty, London, 1964, no. 209, and was later with pairs of quail, chrysanthemums convey the doubly-propitious
sold with Poly Beijing on 18 December 2017, lot 5030; a further bowl wish of ‘May you live in peace’. The fallen leaf on the pearl-ground is
from the P. Lunden collection is published by J.P. van Goidsenhoven, known as luo ye which in Chinese is a pun for le ye meaning ‘work

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