Paolo Veronese (1528–1588), St. Jerome in the Wilderness, 1566–67. Oil on canvas, 91 × 57 1⁄4 inches, San Pietro Martire, Murano Photo: Ufficio Beni Culturali del Patriarcato di Venezia.

NEW YORK, NY.- This fall, The Frick Collection presents a focused exhibition on two important Renaissance paintings by the celebrated artist Paolo Veronese (1528– 1588), St. Jerome in the Wilderness and St. Agatha Visited in Prison by St. Peter. While the paintings are known to scholars, their remote location in a church in Murano, an island in the lagoon of Venice known today for its glassmaking studios and shops, has made them difficult to study. St. Jerome in the Wilderness has been exhibited outside the church only once—in 1939, in the Paolo Veronese exhibition at Ca’ Giustinian, in Venice— while St. Agatha Visited in Prison by St. Peter has not left the church since being installed in the early nineteenth century. These two rarely seen canvases left Italy for the first time since their creation, over 450 years ago. And thanks to Venetian Heritage and the sponsorship of BVLGARI, they have been fully restored and returned to their original glory. Veronese in Murano: Two Venetian Renaissance Masterpieces Restored, on view October 24, 2017, through March 25, 2018, provides a unique opportunity for an international audience to discover these two masterpieces in the Frick’s unique setting. The exhibition is organized by the Frick’s Peter Jay Sharp Chief Curator Xavier F. Salomon, an eminent Veronese scholar (who wrote the accompanying catalogue), and Venetian Heritage. 

Paolo Veronese (1528–1588), St. Jerome in the Wilderness (detail), 1566–67. Oil on canvas, 91 × 57 1⁄4 inches, San Pietro Martire, Murano Photo: Ufficio Beni Culturali del Patriarcato di Venezia.

The first of these two works depicts St. Jerome, who lived between the fourth and fifth century in Dalmatia and is known primarily for having translated the Hebrew and Greek versions of the Bible into Latin. Jerome spent substantial time in the desert, probably in Syria, where he led an ascetic life. In a letter to his friend Eustochium, Jerome describes his trials: “living in the wilderness, in the vast solitude that provides a horrid, sun-scorched abode to monks . . . Tears all day, groans all day—and if, resist it as I might, sleep overwhelmed me, my fleshless bones, hardly holding together, scraped against the bare ground. I say nothing about food or drink… All the company I had was scorpions and wild beasts . . . So it was that I wept continually and starved the rebellious flesh for weeks at a time. Often I joined day to night and did not stop beating my breast until the Lord restored my peace of mind . . . Angry and stern with myself I plunged alone, deeper and deeper, into the wasteland; and, as the Lord is my witness, from time to time and after many tears I seemed to be in the midst of throngs of angels.” 

Paolo Veronese (1528–1588), St. Jerome in the Wilderness (detail), 1566–67. Oil on canvas, 91 × 57 1⁄4 inches, San Pietro Martire, Murano Photo: Ufficio Beni Culturali del Patriarcato di Venezia.

While living as a monk in Bethlehem, Jerome was visited by what was to become one of his most frequent iconographic symbols. As he and the other monks were reading the Scriptures, a lion limped into the monastery. The men fled in terror, but Jerome realized that the animal was injured. He asked his fellow monks to help him remove the thorn that tormented the animal’s paw, then dressed the wound. Once healed, the lion “lost all his wildness, and lived among [them] like a house pet.” 

Paolo Veronese (1528–1588), St. Jerome in the Wilderness (detail), 1566–67. Oil on canvas, 91 × 57 1⁄4 inches, San Pietro Martire, Murano Photo: Ufficio Beni Culturali del Patriarcato di Venezia.

Veronese portrays Jerome in the desert, with trees framing the composition. On the right, wooden beams held together by ropes and covered by a roof of leaves indicate a rudimentary hut, a shelter from the elements. Underneath this structure is a still life of objects traditionally associated with Jerome: a crucifix, an hourglass, a skull, and two open books. The hourglass and skull refer to the transience of life, while the volumes allude to Jerome’s translation of the Bible. The saint is an isolated figure in this landscape, alone in his gruelling devotion. His muscular body is tense, covered only by a red cloth secured by a cord. Toothless and haggard, his face is transfixed as he focuses his tear-filled eyes on the crucifix, while beating his chest with a rock. The bruised ribs are visible, and drops of blood testify to his self-punishment. A divine wind rustles the saint’s graying beard, an extraordinary passage of bravura painting. The faithful lion on the left is the only witness to his frenzied state.  

Paolo Veronese (1528–1588), St. Jerome in the Wilderness (detail), 1566–67. Oil on canvas, 91 × 57 1⁄4 inches, San Pietro Martire, Murano Photo: Ufficio Beni Culturali del Patriarcato di Venezia.

Paolo Veronese (1528–1588), St. Jerome in the Wilderness (detail), 1566–67. Oil on canvas, 91 × 57 1⁄4 inches, San Pietro Martire, Murano Photo: Ufficio Beni Culturali del Patriarcato di Venezia.

While St. Jerome in the Wilderness was a common subject for Italian Renaissance paintings and was a theme often treated by Venetian artists, the second Murano canvas depicts a less typical narrative: St. Agatha Visited in Prison by St. Peter. Agatha was a third-century martyr from Sicily who lived in Catania at the time of the Christian persecution under the Roman emperor Decius. Of noble origin, she had pledged her chastity to God and therefore would not yield to the advances of Quintianus, a Roman consul, who was enticed by her beauty. Quintianus first tried to bend Agatha to his will by forcing her to live for a month in the brothel of a woman named Aphrodisia. Firm in her resolve, Agatha left the house untouched. Quintianus then commanded Agatha to worship pagan idols; when she refused, he sent her to jail where she was tortured and Quintianus ordered her breasts to be cut off. Left in prison without food or water and with no medical aid, she suffered greatly. One night she was visited by an old man who revealed himself to be St. Peter, telling her he had been sent by God to comfort and heal her. When the jailers were alerted by Peter’s supernatural light, the saint vanished, and Agatha knelt in prayer, finding that her wounds were gone. Quintianus, however, did not desist. He had her placed naked over burning coals, but she was saved by a heaven-sent earthquake. Finally, having been sent back to jail, she prayed to God to end her torture, and she peacefully died in prison. 

Veronese sets the scene in Agatha’s dark prison cell, which he describes in detail. A high, barred window and a door to the right are the only portals to the outside world. Below the window is a bed, a simple wooden frame covered by a thin mattress; underneath it is a chamber pot. A candle at left illuminates a wood shelf on which Veronese has created a modest, yet exquisite, still life: a glass pitcher with red wine, a bowl, and a loaf of bread. Agatha has been interrupted during her prayers in the semi darkness. She is clothed in a green dress and clutches a pink drapery around her. A heavy chain below the bench makes clear that Agatha is a prisoner in this room. With her left hand, she draws a white, blood-stained cloth to her wounded breasts. She steadies herself against the bench, surprised by the two visitors that have burst into her cell. A glorious blond angel dressed in light blue holds a long taper, bringing light into the shadowy room. He precedes St. Peter, who stands by the open door, monumentally dominating the right part of the picture. The saint is dressed in blue and burnt orange. In his left hand he holds the keys to heaven (one gold, one silver), his standard attribute. With his right hand he gestures upward, referring at once to his celestial mission and to Agatha’s imminent healing, and possibly to her death and heavenly reward. 

Paolo Veronese (1528–1588), St. Agatha Visited in Prison by St. Peter, 1566–67. Oil on canvas 65 1⁄2 × 81 1⁄2 inches, San Pietro Martire, Murano. Photo: Ufficio Beni Culturali del Patriarcato di Venezia.

Paolo Veronese (1528–1588), St. Agatha Visited in Prison by St. Peter, (detail), 1566–67. Oil on canvas 65 1⁄2 × 81 1⁄2 inches, San Pietro Martire, Murano. Photo: Ufficio Beni Culturali del Patriarcato di Venezia.

Paolo Veronese (1528–1588), St. Agatha Visited in Prison by St. Peter, (detail), 1566–67. Oil on canvas 65 1⁄2 × 81 1⁄2 inches, San Pietro Martire, Murano. Photo: Ufficio Beni Culturali del Patriarcato di Venezia.

Paolo Veronese (1528–1588), St. Agatha Visited in Prison by St. Peter, (detail), 1566–67. Oil on canvas 65 1⁄2 × 81 1⁄2 inches, San Pietro Martire, Murano. Photo: Ufficio Beni Culturali del Patriarcato di Venezia.

Paolo Veronese (1528–1588), St. Agatha Visited in Prison by St. Peter, (detail), 1566–67. Oil on canvas 65 1⁄2 × 81 1⁄2 inches, San Pietro Martire, Murano. Photo: Ufficio Beni Culturali del Patriarcato di Venezia.

Paolo Veronese (1528–1588), St. Agatha Visited in Prison by St. Peter, (detail), 1566–67. Oil on canvas 65 1⁄2 × 81 1⁄2 inches, San Pietro Martire, Murano. Photo: Ufficio Beni Culturali del Patriarcato di Venezia.

The two paintings were not originally intended for San Pietro Martire, but for a small chapel built near the church of Santa Maria degli Angeli, on another part of the island. In 1566, a priest named Francesco degli Arbori, the chaplain of the Augustinian nuns of Santa Maria degli Angeli, was given a plot of land in the nuns’ cemetery, adjoining the church, to construct a chapel dedicated to St. Jerome, and it was for this chapel that Veronese’s two canvases were commissioned. Contemporary descriptions indicate that the chapel was simply decorated, with the two canvases being the main images in its interior: the St. Jerome hung over the altar with the St. Agatha facing it, on the counterfaçade, over the main door. At the time, Veronese was one of the most successful and highest paid painters in Venice, creating magnificent images for the European aristocracy. (About 1565, he had painted The Choice between Virtue and Vice and Wisdom and Strength for an unknown patron. Both canvases now hang in the West Gallery of The Frick Collection.) How a priest on a small island got to know such a prominent painter and came to commission such costly paintings remains a mystery. Little is known about Degli Arbori’s life, but the research conducted in preparation for this exhibition has uncovered two important documents relating to him: his deed of gift of the chapel to the nuns of Santa Maria degli Angeli, in 1566, and the priest’s will, written soon before his death, in 1579. 

In 1667, after hanging for a century in the chapel for which they had been created, Veronese’s canvases were removed. On August 1 of that year, the nuns of Santa Maria degli Angeli, having determined that the paintings were “notably suffering damage from the injuries of time, inside the said chapel” had them relocated to the main church of Santa Maria degli Angeli. The nuns were also worried about possible theft.   

From the second half of the seventeenth century to the early nineteenth century, the works were frequently described by Veronese’s biographers and guidebook authors, who consistently gave their location as Santa Maria degli Angeli. With the fall of the Venetian Republic and the Napoleonic invasion of Italy in the early nineteenth century, most religious institutions were suppressed, and, in the late spring and summer of 1810, the majority of monasteries and convents in Venice were closed. Such was the fate of the nun’s monastery at Santa Maria degli Angeli, which was officially suppressed in July of that year. By 1815, the St. Jerome in the Wilderness and the St. Agatha Visited in Prison by St. Peter had been moved to a neighboring Dominican church, San Pietro Martire, where they have remained. The chapel for which they were originally painted was left empty, abandoned, and eventually demolished, in 1830. The chapel’s stone door, recently identified during research for this exhibition, is the sole architectural element of the structure known to survive. It is visible in the right wall of Santa Maria degli Angeli, presumably embedded there since the mid-nineteenth century.  

Few examples of free-standing chapels created for single patrons are known to have existed in Venice. The chapel built for Francesco degli Arbori must have been an exceptional structure, and its destruction has meant the loss to subsequent generations of a fascinating site for Veronese’s work. The island of Murano, however, has retained its enchanting character, and the humble monastic cemetery of Santa Maria degli Angeli still remains in its forsaken northwestern corner of the island. After his death, Francesco degli Arbori was buried in the cemetery, and his body presumably still lies there in the small plot of land adjacent to the church. Although the details of Degli Arbori’s prestigious commission remain shrouded in the fog of the past, Veronese’s compositions can be appreciated for their outstanding originality and skillful execution. The recent restoration of both canvases, as well as the technical analysis that accompanied their treatment, will enable future scholars to better understand these paintings and, perhaps, the nature of their commission.

October 24, 2017, through March 25, 2018

NDB: Two Veronese from the Frick Collection are currently on view at the West Gallery:

Paolo Veronese (1528–1588), The Choice between Virtue and Vice, ca. 1565. Oil on canvas, 86 1/4 x 66 3/4 in. (219.1 x 169.5 cm), Henry Clay Frick Bequest, 1912.1.129 © 1998-2017 The Frick Collection.

Lot 105. A Rare Ming Sancai-Glazed Pottery Figure of a Demon, Ming Dynasty. Estimate 5,000-7,000 USD. Lot sold 6,000 USD. Photo: Sothebys.

the vigorously modeled immortal standing  on a square base  cradling a  fruit in his arms, wearing a loosely tied amber yellow dhoti  falling unevenly over his soft cream colored shoes, and a rust and amber splashed shawl on his shoulders , the chest left bare, the face with strong features set in a forbidding expression, the brows knitted beneath two knobby horns, the long hair swept back and over the shoulders, the face, hair and body glazed a bright pea green; Height 21 in., 53.3 cm

Provenance: The John W. Gruber Collection.
Christie's New York 19th December 2000, lot 110.

Note: While it is common to find ridge tiles in the form of demons with green and yellow glaze, it is rare to find an example of a free standing figure. See a ridge tile with this type of demon glazed green and wearing yellow dhoti illustrated by Jessica Harrison-Hall, Ming Ceramics in the British Museum, no. 18:29.

Lot 107. A blue and white jarlet with boys, Mark and period of Wanli (1573-1620). Estimate 4,000-5,000 USD. Lot sold 7,200 USD. Photo: Sothebys.

of globular form, the exterior painted in vivid cobalt with four pairs of large-headed boys playing in a rocky garden with fire crackers, a vase and a wheeled toy, all between cloud lappets at the mouth and ruyi  lappets at the foot; 4 1/8 in., 10.5 cm 

Provenance: Formerly from a Maryland Estate.

Lot 108. A rare blue and white Ming-style washer, Seal Mark and period of Qianlong (1736-1795). Estimate 10,000 — 15,000 USD. Lot sold 26,400 USD. Photo: Sothebys.

resting on a wide flat base with a low footring, the shallow upright sides finely painted in cobalt blue with controlled heaping and piling on a lotus scroll at the base, below a ruyi lappet collar, key-fret at the shoulder and small circles around the short wasted neck, the sides set with a pair of ruyi head handles; 3 3/4 in., 9.5 cm 

Provenance: Formerly from a Maryland Estate.

Lot 111. A Blue and white beaker Vase, Qing Dynasty, Kangxi period (1662-1722). Estimate 6,000 — 8,000 USD. Lot sold 7,800 USD. Photo: Sothebys.

painted in bright cobalt washes of blue with scenes of Daoist Immortals enclosed within panels on the neck and the foot, the central section painted with two panels of flowering prunus; 18 1/2 in., 47 cm. 

Provenance: Sotheby's New York, 17th April 1985, lot 175.

Lot 112. A Blue and white beaker Vase, Qing Dynasty, Kangxi period (1662-1722). Estimate 3,000 — 5,000 USD. Lot sold 7,200 USD. Photo: Sothebys.

the flared neck and foot each painted with two panels enclosing scenes of scholars and their attendants strolling through various landscapes, the slightly bulging middle section painted with detached floral sprigs; 18 1/4 in., 46.4 cm. 

Sotheby's. Fine Chinese Ceramics & Works of Art, New York, 31 mars 2005

Lot 113. A blue glazed vase, Seal Mark and Period of Jiaqing (1796-1820). Estimate 8,000 — 12,000 USD. Lot sold 15,600 USD. Photo: Sothebys.

well potted, the highly compressed globular body supported on a slightly flared foot, rising to a tall cylindrical neck, applied overall in an even indigo-blue glaze, the interior of the vase glazed white; 12 1/4 in., 31.1 cm. 

Provenance: See a blue-glazed vase of related shape with a Jiaqing reign mark and of the period, but decorated with a gilt design, sold in our Hong Kong rooms, 17th May 1988, lot 111.

Lot 115. A large blue-glazed bowl, Incised mark and period of Wanli (1573-1620). Estimate 8,000 — 12,000 USD. Lot sold 8,400 USD. Photo: Sothebys.

with deep rounded sides rising from a straight foot to a slightly everted rim, covered overall in a deep indigo-blue glaze thinning to reveal the white porcelain body at the rim; 12 1/8 in., 31 cm.

Lot 119. A fine 'wucai''dragon and phoenix' bowl, Seal mark and period of Qianlong (1736-1795). Estimate 20,000 — 25,000 USD. Lot sold 24,000 USD. Photo: Sothebys.

potted with deep rounded sides everting at the rim, painted around the exterior in deep underglaze-blue of purplish tones and brilliant glassy enamels with a green and an iron-red dagon pacing through scattered blooms in pursuit of 'flaming pearls', the beasts alternating with two swooping phoenix with outstretched wings and fanned tails, all below a border incorporating the bajixiang, the interior with a central medallion enclosing a leaping iron-red dragon within a double-circle repeated at the rim and foot; 5 7/8 in., 15 cm.

Provenance: Christie's Hong Kong, 25th October 1993, lot 741.
Collection of Mr. and Mrs. James E. Breece III.

Lot 121. An iron-red and underglaze-blue 'dragon' dish, Seal mark and period of Qianlong (1736-1795). Estimate 2,500 — 3,500 USD. Lot sold 7,800 USD. Photo: Sothebys.

of shallow rounded form with an everted rim, painted on the interior with a writhing dragon in deep tones of iron-red amidst rolling waves picked out in underglaze-blue, the underside with a band of dragons depicted in various positions against a wave ground; 6 7/8 in., 17.5 cm.

Sotheby's. Fine Chinese Ceramics & Works of Art, New York, 31 mars 2005

Lot 123. A fine and extremely rare Imperial Yellow Chrysanthemum Dish, Mark and period of Yongzheng (1723-1735). Estimate 200,000 — 300,000 USD. Lot sold 262,400 USD. Photo: Sothebys.

delicately potted, the shallow dish crisply molded with forty-four fluted petals radiating from the slightly sunken well to form a foliate rim, correspondingly lobed on the exterior and continuing to the footrim, applied overall in an even bright lemon-yellow glaze, the base glazed white; 7 in., 17.9 cm.

Provenance: From a Midwest collection.

Note: Chrysanthemum dishes of this form were made in a wide range of colours during Yongzheng's reign. See twelve Yongzheng dishes of this form, in twelve kinds of glazes including one in yellow glaze, illustrated in Kangxi. Yongzheng. Qianlong. Qing Porcelain from the Palace Museum Collection, Hong Kong, 1989, pl. 145. Six similar Yongzheng dishes are illustrated in Wenwu, 1984, no. 10, o. 37, fig. 6, in a discussion of Ming and Qing porcelain in the Palace Museum, Beijing, where it is noted that the records of the Qing Palace workshops for the 27th day of the 12th month of the 11th year of the Yongzheng (1733) include an Imperial decree that Nian Xiyao, Minister in the Zaobanchu (Imperial Household Department), should 'send  the twelve colors of chrysanthemum dishes, one of each color, for the inspection of the permanent guardian of the treasure and chief eunuch Samuha' and that an 'order to deliver be granted to the place where the porcelain objects are made for forty pieces to be fired of every type according to the samples'. 

Sotheby's. Fine Chinese Ceramics & Works of Art, New York, 31 mars 2005

Lot 124. A handled 'robin's egg'-glazed 'hu' vase, Qing Dynasty, Qianlong period (1736-1795). Estimate 25,000 — 30,000 USD. Lot sold 28,800 USD. Photo: Sothebys.

supported on a slightly splayed foot, the rounded body elegantly tapering to a waisted neck rising to an everted lipped mouth rim, the sloping shoulders flanked by a pair of stylized elephant-head loop-handles arching over two molded filets encircling the shoulder, covered overall in a glaze of rich mottled and streaked tones of lavender-blue and bright turquoise-green; 12 1/4 in., 31 cm.

Provenance: S. Marchant & Son, London.   

Sotheby's. Fine Chinese Ceramics & Works of Art, New York, 31 mars 2005

Lot 129. A white soft-paste bottle vase, Qing Dynasty, 18th century. Estimate 6,000 — 8,000 USD. Lot sold 14,400 USD. Photo: Sothebys.

the globular body molded in low relief with four shou characters encircled by kui dragons and flying bats, all between wave lappets and keyfret skirting the foot and ruyi head lappets and further keyfret at the shoulders,  the tall cylindrical neck molded with upright plantain leaves, all beneath a lightly crackled clear glaze; 15 in., 38.1 cm.

Sotheby's. Fine Chinese Ceramics & Works of Art, New York, 31 mars 2005

Lot 130. An archaistic soft-paste 'imitation ding' vase, Incised seal mark and period of Qianlong (1736-1795). Estimate 5,000 — 6,000 USD. Lot sold 31,200 USD. Photo: Sothebys.

of flattened 'hu' shape, the exterior molded and carved with raised bands of various archaistic designs including a broad band of taotie masks, dragons and lappets, the vase further set with raised vertical flanges and three pairs of zoomorphic handles, all covered with a creamy-white soft-paste glaze suffused with fine crazing; 5 in., 12.7 cm.

Sotheby's. Fine Chinese Ceramics & Works of Art, New York, 31 mars 2005

Lot 131. A small fine and rare doucai wine cup, Mark and period of Yongzheng (1723-1735). Estimate 50,000 — 70,000 USD. Lot sold 84,000 USD. Photo: Sothebys.

elegantly potted, the exterior delicately painted in cobalt-blue outline and enameled with multi-colored lotus sprays, each supporting a bowl containing an auspicious emblem including rocks, a conch shell, a lotus, and a small cup, all resting upon a recessed base; 2 7/8 in., 7.3 cm.

Note: The design of this bowl is after the famous Ming design of the five sacrificial offerings found on Chenghua doucai cups of very similar shape and size. Compare two doucai cups of this form with sprays of lotus supporting Precious Objects, with Chenghua marks on the base but of the Yongzheng period, included in the National Palace Museum Ming Chenghua ciqi tezhan (Special Exhibition of Ch'eng Hua Porcelain), Taipei, 1976, cat.nos. 52-53, together with the fifteenth century prototype, cat.no. 51. Compare a similar cup with a Yongzheng reign mark and of the period sold in our Hong Kong rooms 31st October 1974, lot 272.  

Sotheby's. Fine Chinese Ceramics & Works of Art, New York, 31 mars 2005

Lot 132. A 'robin's egg'-glazed vase (Tianqiuping), Qing Dynasty, Qianlong-Jiaqing period. Estimate 10,000 — 15,000 USD. Lot sold 16,800 USD. Photo: Sothebys.

of classic tianqiuping form, the globular body rising to slanted shoulders surmounted by a tall slightly waisted columnar neck, the body and counter-sunk base covered in an even glaze of feathered milky turquoise-blue and lavender running to a slightly lighter color at the rounded mid-body; 12 5/8 in., 32 cm

Provenance: Sotheby's Hong Kong, May 15th 1990, lot 93.

Note: A 'robin's egg'-glazed vase of similar size, from the collection of the Seattle Art Museum, was sold in these rooms, 2nd November 1979, lot 352. Related vases with similar glaze, but smaller in size, are in the Percival David Foundation, London, illustrated in The World's Great Collections. Oriental Ceramics, vol. 6, Tokyo, 1982, pl. 260; in the Gemeente Museum, The Hague, included in Beatrice Jansen, Chinese Ceramiek, the Hague, 1976, pl. 346.    

Sotheby's. Fine Chinese Ceramics & Works of Art, New York, 31 mars 2005

Lot 134. Two Imperial Yellow Bowls, Qianlong seal mark and period (1736-1795). Estimate 15,000 — 20,000 USD. Lot sold 15,600 USD. Photo: Sothebys.

each with deep rounded sides rising from a cylindrical footrim to the slightly everted rim, covered both inside and out in a rich egg-yolk yellow glaze, thinning slightly at the rim; 5 3/4 in., 14.6 cm

Note: Similar bowls have been sold in these rooms May 23rd, 1974, lot 438 and March 27th, 1977, lot 211.    

Sotheby's. Fine Chinese Ceramics & Works of Art, New York, 31 mars 2005

Lot135. A celadon glazed brushpot, Qing Dynasty, Kangxi Period (1662-1722). Estimate 4,000 — 6,000 USD. Lot sold 4,800 USD. Photo: Sothebys.

the tall cylindrical vessel lightly incised on the exterior with three large lotus flower heads borne on a dense continuous foliate scroll, all beneath a pale green glaze, the interior glazed white; 6 1/8 in., 15.5 cm.

Sotheby's. Fine Chinese Ceramics & Works of Art, New York, 31 mars 2005

Lot 141. A 'wucai' saucer dish, Mark and period of Kangxi (1662-1722). Estimate 4,000 -- 6,000 USD. Lot sold 4,800 USD. Photo: Sothebys.

delicately potted, the interior painted in the center with numerous densely scattered flowering plants, including hydrangea, camellia, pinks, asters, prunus, peony, and lotus, the exterior painted with detached floral sprays of similar plants; 6 3/4 in., 17.2 cm.

Note: See a pair of Kangxi dishes of this design sold at Christie's Hong Kong, 8th October 1990, lot 446; and another single piece sold at Christie's London rooms, 9th June 1997, lot 97. A slightly larger dish of similar motif was sold in our Hong Kong rooms, 29th November 1978, lot 353.

Sotheby's. Fine Chinese Ceramics & Works of Art, New York, 31 mars 2005