Lot 31. A pair of blue and white 'Master of the Rocks'-style dishes, Kangxi period (1662-1722). Estimate £4,000 - 6,000 (€4,500 - 6,700). Photo: Bonhams.

Well painted with three small figures standing beside a boldly outlined tree on a promontory in the foreground, while a boat heads toward them, higher up the mountain with oscillating curvilinear lines are thatched huts, a broad river curves away to the left with undulating mountains and a waterfall, further mountains in blue wash visible in the distance, the exterior painted with three long bamboo sprays. Both 34.3cm (13 1/2in) diam. (2). 

Notes: The term 'Master of the Rocks' was introduced by the collector and author Gerald Reitlinger, and describes the distinctive style of depicting landscapes on a diagonal composition, with thick curvilinear strokes providing the outlines and thinner, parallel contours used to create the depth of the rockwork. Such landscapes represent one of the most important developments in Chinese ceramic decoration during the 17th century.

Compare with a very similar 'Master of the Rocks' dish in the Butler Family Collection, illustrated in Seventeenth Century Jingdezhen Porcelain from the Shanghai Museum and the Butler Collections: Beauty's Enchantment, Shanghai, 2005, pp.234-235. See also J.Curtis, Chinese Porcelains of the Seventeenth Century: Landscapes, Scholars' Motifs and Narratives, New York, 1995, pp.72-73.

Bonhams. FINE CHINESE ART, 10 november 2016, 10:30 GMT, LONDON, NEW BOND STREET