Lot 23. A wucai 'Rise in official rank' jar and cover, Shunzhi period (1644-1661); 33cm (13in) high. (2). Sold for £44,400 (Estimate £18,000 - 24,000). © Bonhams 2001-2022

Brightly enamelled around the exterior with a continuous scene of a dignitary seated on a horseshoe-back chair with tiger-skin, surrounded by court retinue with sword and standard bearers, kneeling before the dignitary a gentlemen in black robes proffers a boot, with further guardsmen carrying swords and halberds watching, all amidst a balustraded court setting leading to rocks and trees with swirling clouds, all beneath a ruyi-head border at the neck, the domed cover surmounted by a lotus-bud finial and decorated with cartouches containing landscapes.

Provenance: Richard Marchant Ltd. Chinese and Japanese Works of Art, London, 14 December 1994.

Note: 'Rise in official rank' was a popular motif but usually shows three scholars offering a wine ewer, wine cup and boot. The boot is part of official attire while the wine cup or jue was an archaic ritual vessel that conveyed rising in official rank. See Folklore in Ming and Qing Porcelain, Hong Kong, 2019, pp.166-167. However, the present lot shows no ewer or wine cup.

The other possibility is that the figure in black kneeling is the powerful eunuch and politician Gao Lishi holding the drunken poet Li Bai's boots. According to Stories to Caution the World (警世通言), Li Bai, the renowned poet in the Tang dynasty who refused to take the civil service examination was berated by the powerful officials Yang Guozhong and Gao Lishi as an an unlearned scholar that was only worthy of holding an inkstone and removing footwear for them. Later, however, the Balhae Kingdom sent an ambassador with a letter, which only Li Bai could read. The emperor directed Li Bai to reply to the letter and granted the drunk Li's request to have Yang Guozhong hold his inkstone and Gao Lishi take of his boots; see ibid., pp.16-17.

The scene could also relate to the story of 'Chancellor Ku Zhun Venturing into the Cellar Without his Boots on', which tells the story of the chancellor pursuing General Yan Linlang, treading softly in his socks, but fails to catch him and has to report failure to the eight princes. See Shunzhi Porcelain: Treasures from and Unknown Reign, Alexandria, 2002, p.216, no.70.

See a related wucai jar, Shunzhi, with similar design, from the Butler Family collection and illustrated in Shunzhi Porcelain: Treasures from an Unknown Reign, Alexandria, 2002, pp.216-217, no.70.

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