Lot 3577. An underglaze-blue and copper-red decorated celadon-glazed dish, Kangxi period, circa 1700. Estimate $12,000 – $18,000. Price Realized $16,250. Photo Christie’s Image Ltd 2015

The large dish, with flat, everted rim, is carved and painted with a river landscape with a sage and an attendant on a riverbank in the foreground, with the rocks picked-out in the celadon glaze. The reverse is decorated with long branches of bamboo and the base bears an apocryphal Chenghua mark. 10 7/8 in. (27.4 cm.) diam. 

Provenance: S. Marchant & Son, Ltd., London, 1985.

Notes: The combination of celadon green with underglaze cobalt blue and underglaze copper red is relatively rare, no doubt because it was so difficult to fire successfully. With the coming of the Kangxi reign came renewed imperial interest in porcelain and a demand for high quality and variety. In the early years of the reign the potters revived the combination of underglaze blue and underglaze copper red on single pieces, and with the re-establishment of the imperial kiln complex court demand for innovation resulted in molded and carved surface decoration and the use of areas of celadon green being added to this already challenging palette.

CHRISTIE’S. AN ERA OF INSPIRATION: 17TH-CENTURY CHINESE PORCELAINS FROM THE COLLECTION OF JULIA AND JOHN CURTIS, 16 March 2015,New York, Rockefeller Plaza