Canalblog
Editer l'article Suivre ce blog Administration + Créer mon blog
Publicité
Alain.R.Truong
Alain.R.Truong
Publicité
Visiteurs
Depuis la création 50 863 684
Archives
Newsletter
Alain.R.Truong
15 décembre 2016

A fine and rare doucai 'Mythical Horse' dish, Yongzheng mark and period (1723-1735)

A fine and rare doucai 'Mythical Horse' dish, Yongzheng mark and period (1723-1735)

1

Lot 156. A fine and rare doucai 'Mythical Horse' dish, Yongzheng mark and period (1723-1735). Estimate 60,000 — 80,000 GBP. Lot sold 134,500 GBP. Photo: Sotheby's.

the shallow sides rising from a tapered foot to a wide everted rim, the interior painted with a central medallion enclosing a mythical horse carrying a bundle of books and galloping over a stormy sea with craggy rocks, the rim encircled by a band of scrolling clouds, painted to the exterior with swirling and foaming waves breaking against rocky mountains, the base with a six-character reign mark in three vertical columns within a double-circle - 20.1cm., 7 7/8 in.

NotesA dish of this vividly painted design, in the Palace Museum, Beijing, is illustrated in Kangxi. Yongzheng. Qianlong. Qing Porcelain from the Palace Museum Collection, Hong Kong, 1989, p. 206, pl. 35; one from the Edward T. Chow collection was sold in our Hong Kong rooms, 19th May 1981, lot 560; another from the collection of W.W. Winkworth was sold in these rooms, 12th December 1972, lot 122; and a fourth dish was sold at Christie’s Hong Kong, 29thMay 2013, lot 2270. 

According to the Liji (Book of Rites), written from the Warring States Period to the Qin and Han dynasties, Fuxi, the first of the three legendary rulers of ancient China, was observing all under heaven when he saw a creature emerge from the river. This creature had the form of a horse, the head of a dragon and the scales of a fish. The markings on the creature's back inspired Fuxi to invent the eight trigrams, which led to the invention of writing, represented by the book on the creature's back. Later writings described the creature as having the essence of heaven and earth, with the form of a horse and the scales of a dragon, and it was said to appear when a sage ruled the land. Beginning in the Yuan dynasty, this mythical horse became a popular motif on ceramics, where the design was referred to as haima (sea and horse) because it always portrayed the horse galloping through the air over turbulent seas.

Sotheby's. Fine Chinese Ceramics & Works of Art, London, 06 Nov 2013

Publicité
Publicité
Commentaires
Publicité