Lot 2. A rare and large 'ladies and boys' wucai dish, Yu tang jia qi mark, Shunzhi period (1644-1661); 33cm (13in) diam. Sold for £44,400. © Bonhams 2001-2022

Finely potted with deep rounded sides rising from a short foot ring, the interior exquisitely decorated with two ladies and five boys, one lady carries a young boy in her arms while the other with her back to us plays with a Cassia flower, one boy hiding behind a lady humorously pulling his face at the viewer, another two boys playing with a drum gaze in the distance, all within a balustraded garden with large craggy rocks and prunus, a three character inscription reading tanhua lang 'The Flower Snatching Gentleman', the underside of the dish with maker's mark in underglaze blue within a double circle. 

Provenance: S. Marchant & Son, London, 27 September 2005.

Note: The painting on the present lot has multiple allusions to examination success. It is particularly remarkable however, for the humorous twist the craftsmen took in making the child behind the lady pull his face at the viewer; making a common trope of hopeful wishes for examination success into something unique.

The image shows a lady plucking a cassia flower before the child held up to her. To 'pluck the cassia' was a euphemism for passing the Imperial civil service examinations. The phrase has its origins from the biography of Xi Shen (郤詵, exact dates unknown) in the Book of Jin (晉書), an official history of the Jin dynasty (266-420). Xi Shen was sent to Yongzhou as a Provincial Governor, but before he journeyed, Emperor Wu of Jin (236-290) asked him: 'how does our minister [i.e. you] consider yourself? [for the role]'. Xi replied saying: 'I, your servant, esteem virtue and am good at strategies in running a state, [I am] first under heaven, like a branch from the forest of cassia, or jade from Kunlun'.

The link between plucking flowers and examination success is further reinforced by the inscription on the dish reading 'The Flower Snatching (or Plucking) Gentleman' (tanhua lang 探花郎). Tanhua was the title given to the third highest ranking candidate in the examination for the jinshi ('presented scholar') degree, the highest level. Zhuangyuan (literally meaning 'top thesis author') was the title given to the highest scoring candidate, while Bangyan (literally 'eyes positioned alongside') was the title awarded to the second highest scoring. The child reaching out for the flower held by the woman is literally a 'flower snatcher' or tanhua, embodying the hopes of later achieving examination success.

See a blue and white bottle vase, Kangxi, with the same design, illustrated in The Complete Collection of Treasures of the Palace Museum: Blue and White Porcelain with Underglazed Red III, Hong Kong, 2000, p.14, no.10. See also a pair of related famille verte dishes, Kangxi marks and of the period, illustrated by S.Jenyns, Later Chinese Porcelain, London, 1965, pl. XXXI, no.2.

Bonhams. THE MARSH COLLECTION ART FOR THE LITERATI, 3 November 2022, London, New Bond Street