Lot 3313. A Wucai ‘Water Margin’ Dish, Lu Yi Tang mark, Kangxi Period (1662-1722). D 20.5cm. Estimate 180,000 - 250,000 (USD 23,077 - 32,051). Sold Price: HKD 192,000 (USD 24,615). Copyright 2021 © Poly Auction Hong Kong Limited

A finely sculpted dish with a clear white ground and prominent representation of three fictional characters in wucai. The three figures at the center of the dish are Dongping, Yuan Xiaoqi and Shiqian from the tale Water Margin. Glazes used in the three figures contrast greatly against the empty background, and details on the figures are further enhanced. At the base is an inscription of chinese characters ‘luyitang’ framed in a double circle in underglaze blue.

Provenance: 1. Collection of Mme. Monange, Biarritz, South West France, 1986
2. Duchange family collection, Paris, France.

Note: The first two characters inscribed at the bottom, ‘luyi’ was first used in the Book of Poetry as a reference to ‘the undulating bamboo forest on the bank of the River Qi’. Descendants of Emperor Taizu of Song (r. 960-976) named the family shrine the ‘Nanmen Luyitang’ at its establishment during the Ming dynasty in the fifth year of the Jingtai reign (1454) as a commemoration of the founder Zhao Meinan.

A similar piece can be found at the Shanghai Museum, which also depicts characters from the Water Margin, published in Kangxi Porcelain Wares from the Shanghai Museum Collection, Hong Kong, 1998, p. 205, fig. 132.

Poly Auctions. Imperial Treasures: A Selection of Qing Imperial Porcelains, Hong Kong, 21 April 2021