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17 février 2015

A blue and white shallow bowl, Shunzhi period, circa 1650

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A blue and white shallow bowl, Shunzhi period, circa 1650. Estimate $6,000 – $8,000Photo Christie’s Image Ltd 2015

The shallow bowl, with slightly flaring rim, is decorated with a charming scene from the Romance of the Western Chamber. The scene, known as 'Beauty's Enchantment', depicts Zhang catching sight of Yingying for the first time, with a two-character inscription to the right of the tree branchthat reads ji feng ('Hope for [an] encounter'). The reverse is sparsely decorated with a river scene and the base bears an apocryphal Jiajing mark. 6 ½ in. (16.5 cm.) diam. Lot 3561

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Provenance:Heirloom & Howard, Ltd., London, 1984.
Collection of Julia and John Curtis.

Literature: Julia B. Curtis, “La porcelaine chinoise de Transition,” La porcelaine chinoise de Transition: et ses influences sur la céramique japonaise, proche-orientale et européenne, Geneva, 1998, no. 16.

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NotesThe scene on this dish comes from Chapter 1, Act 1 of the Romance of the Western Chamber (Xixiang ji) and depicts Zhang Sheng and a monk standing in front of a temple building, which the monk is about to enter. Zhang Sheng, however, has turned back to look at Yingying and her maid Hongniang. He bows slightly over his fan and Yingying also turns to look at Zhang Sheng. In some depictions on porcelain and in some of the woodblock illustrations - for example those from the Chongjiao Bei Xixiang Ji (The Collated Northern Romance of the Western Wing), designed and carved by Liu Ciquan in the Wanli reign)Yingying is shown holding a sprig of blossoming prunus, but on this bowl she and Hongniang are simply shown standing beneath a blossoming prunus tree. Similar variations can be seen in the depictions of Zhang Sheng, who is sometimes shown carrying a fan (fig. 1), as on this bowl, while other porcelains and some woodblock printed illustrations depict him without a fan.

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Fig. 1: Woodblock illustration to Xi Xiang Ji (Romance of the Western Chamber). From an edition published by Liu Longtian (1573-1619), ed., from Wang Shifu, The Moon and the Zither: The Story of the Western Wing, Berkeley, 1991, fg. 4.

CHRISTIE’S. AN ERA OF INSPIRATION: 17TH-CENTURY CHINESE PORCELAINS FROM THE COLLECTION OF JULIA AND JOHN CURTIS, 16 March 2015,New York, Rockefeller Plaza

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