A rare pair of Dayazhai yellow-ground jardinières, Guangxu-Early Republic period, 19th-20th century. Estimate $30,000 – $50,000. Photo Christie's Image Ltd 2015

Each is decorated around the exterior en grisaille with a continuous scene of peony above lotus lappets and below ruyifilled with foliate scrollwork, with the Dayazhai mark in iron red and tian di yi jia chun (Spring throughout the heaven and earth as one family) in an oval cartouche surrounded by dragons. 12 ½ in. (31.7 cm.) high

Provenance: Zenzo Nishida (1895-1977) Collection, Tokyo.
Acquired from the Nishida Family, Tokyo, 1992.

PROPERTY FROM THE COLLECTION OF MR. AND MRS. ROBERT YOUNG, VIRGINIA

Notes: The group of porcelains marked with the characters Dayazhai was made for the personal use of the powerful Empress Dowager, Cixi (1835-1908). Of significance is an important sub-category of Dayazhai wares which is connected to Cixi's 60th birthday in 1894. Among the decorative characteristics of this group are the inscriptions Dayazhai and tian di yi jia chun, and the composition of flowers and insects en grisaille against a yellow ground, all of which are found on the present jardinieres. Ronald W. Longsdorf, in his article 'Dayazhai Ware: Porcelains of the Empress Dowager',Orientations, March 1992, p. 46, suggests that the technique of grisaille painting on a yellow ground is “reminiscent of ink painting, especially with the seal mark and 'Da ya zhai’ inscription in the same vermilion used for stamping seal marks on paper.”

Christie's. FINE CHINESE CERAMICS AND WORKS OF ART, 17 - 18 September 2015, New York, Rockefeller Plaza