A Qingbai floriform bowl, Northern Song dynasty (960-1127)

March 11, 2018, 11:19 am

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Lot 669. A Qingbai floriform bowl, Northern Song dynasty (960-1127). Diameter 7 3/4 in., 20 cm. Estimate 8,000 — 12,000 USD. Photo: Sotheby's.

delicately potted, the gently rounded sides rising from a short tapering foot to a hexafoil rim, carved to the interior with a flower of six spiraled and notched petals with combed detail, covered in a translucent pale blue glaze pooling in the recesses, the unglazed center of the base fired to a dusty brick color.

Provenance: Sotheby's New York, 30th May 1990, lot 88.
Christie's New York, 20th-21st March 2014, lot 2102.

Note: See a similar dish from the collection of J.C. Thomson and exhibited in The Arts of the Sung Dynasty, Oriental Ceramics Society, London, 1960, cat. no. 216.

Sotheby's. Important Chinese Art, New York, 21 march 2018, 10:00 AM

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A white-glazed yuhuchungping, Song-Jin dynasty (960-1234)

March 11, 2018, 11:24 am

≫ Next: A 'Jian''Hare's Fur' tea bowl, Song Dynasty (960-1279)

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Lot 670. A white-glazed yuhuchungping, Song-Jin dynasty (960-1234). Height 12 1/8 in., 30.8 cm. Estimate 8,000 — 12,000 USD. Photo: Sotheby's.

the pear-shaped body rising from a spreading foot to a slender neck with a flared mouth and lipped rim, the body and interior of the mouth dressed in white slip falling irregularly above the foot to reveal the buff body, covered overall in a translucent glaze, the base recessed.

Sotheby's. Important Chinese Art, New York, 21 march 2018, 10:00 AM

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A 'Jian''Hare's Fur' tea bowl, Song Dynasty (960-1279)

March 11, 2018, 11:47 am

≫ Next: A large Jian 'hare's fur' tea bowl, Song-Jin dynasty (960-1234)

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Lot 671. A 'Jian''Hare's Fur' tea bowl, Song Dynasty (960-1279). Diameter 4 7/8 in., 12.3 cm. Estimate 8,000 — 12,000 USD. Photo: Sotheby's.

the steep, conical sides with a subtly concave band just below the tapered rim, covered in a thick, opalescent chestnut-colored glaze suffused with lustrous black streaks emanating upward in fine lines from the well and around the exterior, the glaze pooling in an uneven line issuing three thick drops revealing the dark gray stoneware body, the base incised with the two-character phrase gongyu (imperial tribute), Japanese box (3).

Note: A closely related 'Jian''hare's fur' teabowl, but without the gongyu mark, in the collection of the Arthur M. Sackler Museum at Harvard University was exhibited in Hare's Fur, Tortoiseshell, and Partridge Feathers: Chinese Brown- and Black-Glazed Ceramics, 400-1400, Harvard University Art Museums, Cambridge, MA, 1995-1997, cat. no. 79. For a discussion of the manufacturing process of these bowls, their appreciation by Emperor Huizong (r. 1100-1126), and their use in tea ceremony, see ibid., pp. 212-214. Similar bowls carved with gongyu marks include one from the Yangdetang Collection sold at Christie's Hong Kong, 30th November 2016, lot 3157; and another sold in our Hong Kong rooms, 1st-2nd June 2015, lot 589.

From The Yangdetang Collection. A Jian 'hare's fur' tea bowl, Southern Song Dynasty (1127-1279); 4 7/8 in. (12.3 cm.) diam. Sold for HKD 500,000 at Christie's Hong Kong, 30th November 2016, lot 3157. © Christie's Image Ltd 2016.

Cf. my post: A Jian 'hare's fur' tea bowl, Southern Song Dynasty (1127-1279)

An inscribed 'Jian''hare's fur' teabowl, Song dynasty; 12 cm., 4 3/4 in. Unsold at Sotheby's Hong Kong, 1st-2nd June 2015, lot 589. Photo Sotheby's

Cf. my post: An inscribed 'Jian''hare's fur' teabowl, Song dynasty

Sotheby's. Important Chinese Art, New York, 21 march 2018, 10:00 AM

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A large Jian 'hare's fur' tea bowl, Song-Jin dynasty (960-1234)

March 11, 2018, 11:57 am

≫ Next: The Mystery of Worcester's Leonardo

≪ Previous: A 'Jian''Hare's Fur' tea bowl, Song Dynasty (960-1279)

Lot 672. A large Jian 'hare's fur' tea bowl, Song-Jin dynasty (960-1234). Diameter 8 1/8 in., 20.6 cm. Estimate 30,000 — 50,000 USD. Photo: Sotheby's.

the conical sides rising from a straight foot to an everted rim, covered overall in a viscous black glaze pooling in thick drops around the biscuit foot, the rim suffused with brown tones trickling down the interior and exterior walls in a 'hare's fur' pattern.

Sotheby's. Important Chinese Art, New York, 21 march 2018, 10:00 AM

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The Mystery of Worcester's Leonardo

March 12, 2018, 4:44 am

≫ Next: Tragic love story, inspiring art and music for over 1,000 years, is focus of new Worcester Art Museum exhibition

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Attributed to Leonardo da Vinci and Lorenzo di Credi, A Miracle of Saint Donatus of Arezzo, about 1479, painting on panel, Theodore T. and Mary G. Ellis Collection, 1940.29. Image courtesy of the Worcester Art Museum.

WORCESTER, MASS.- The Worcester Art Museum is presenting an exhibition revealing the hand of Leonardo da Vinci in two Renaissance panel paintings—the Museum’s A Miracle of Saint Donatus and the Musée du Louvre’s Annunciation—while reuniting these two panels for the first time since they were separated in the early 19th century. Based on recently completed technical research, The Mystery of Worcester’s Leonardo demonstrates clearly Leonardo’s role in creating both paintings. The exhibition opened March 10, 2018 and remains on view until June 3.

“It is precisely because of the incredible skill and beauty of Leonardo’s work that we find such mystery in those with tantalizing but uncertain attributions,” said Matthias Waschek, C. Jean and Myles McDonough Director of the Worcester Art Museum. “For decades, these two paintings have held clues about Leonardo’s style. Now, thanks to this new research by Rita Albertson, the Museum’s Chief Conservator, and her colleagues, we have for the first time a better understanding of—and evidence for—Leonardo’s role as a painter of these predella panels.”

The A Miracle of Saint Donatus painting was discovered in 1933 and sold shortly thereafter to Theodore T. and Mary G. Ellis, patrons of the Worcester Art Museum, as a work by Leonardo da Vinci. Like Worcester’s painting, the Louvre’s Annunciation has also sometimes been attributed to Leonardo. However, most prior research led to an attribution to Lorenzo di Credi, a peer of Leonardo’s and a fellow apprentice in painter and sculptor Andrea del Verrocchio’s workshop.

The first technical article to compare these works was published in 1952 by the Musée du Louvre in Radiographies de tableaux de Leonard De Vinci by Magdeleine Hours. By studying the x-radiographs of both panels, the author identified a number of significant similarities and firmly concluded both panels were from the same altarpiece. More recently, extensive research on Worcester’s painting has been conducted by Rita Albertson, Chief Conservator at the Worcester Art Museum, with contributions by Laurence Kanter, Chief Curator and Lionel Goldfrank III Curator of European Art, Yale University Art Gallery. Bruno Mottin, senior curator at the Centre de Recherche et de Restauration des Musées de France (C2RMF) in Paris, performed equivalent research on the Louvre’s painting, providing a remarkable opportunity for comparative study of both panels.

Using comparative technical information from the Worcester and C2RMF teams, this exhibition will explore the panels’ evolution, from their complex underdrawings to the application of final layers of paint and translucent glazes. The resulting assessment demonstrates that they are more likely to be the work of Leonardo da Vinci, and that Lorenzo di Credi played at best an incidental part in their creation. As such, they are important to understanding Leonardo’s evolving style and skill while in the Verrocchio workshop.

To complement the two predella panels—and to underscore the research findings—the Museum presents a complementary work by Lorenzo di Credi, also entitled the Annunciation. By installing the three paintings together, Lorenzo emerges as a distinct voice in Renaissance painting, and an artist of real quality, but not the artist of the Louvre and Worcester pictures. Visitors will be able to recognize the work of Lorenzo di Credi and establish a standard against which to contrast the handling of paint in the Worcester and Louvre panels.

“The ongoing debates about these works have raised new and compelling questions regarding both the young Leonardo and Italian Renaissance workshop practices,” said Rita Albertson. “Drawing on new information made possible by technical research, this exhibition shows the complexity of attribution decisions, while encouraging the viewer to make their own slow and careful observations of each work.”

The paintings have long been recognized as the predella pieces—the paintings that make up the lower pictorial elements of an altarpiece—in the Duomo of Pistoia, Tuscany, a documented commission to Andrea del Verrocchio. Leonardo was apprenticed to Verrocchio beginning in the late 1460s and, as late as the mid-1470s, was still connected to his workshop. According to the Renaissance biographer Giorgio Vasari, Verrocchio and Leonardo worked together on the altarpiece of the Baptism of Christ, now in the Uffizi, Florence. Vasari wrote that, judged side-by-side, Verrochio perceived Leonardo’s work to be so far superior to his own that he resolved never to paint again. Centuries later, Vasari’s story continues to confound scholarly efforts to determine what exactly Verrocchio painted, how much of the surviving work associated with his name should be attributed instead to his assistants—including his younger pupil, Lorenzo di Credi—and what role Leonardo da Vinci had in painting many of these pieces.

As with other Verrocchio commissions, the Worcester and Louvre predella panels have been caught up in the vortex of assumptions swirling around Vasari’s story. The Mystery of Worcester’s Leonardo is the result of research into both works using advanced imaging techniques on them for the first time, and a collaborative process to share and analyze the findings.

Lorenzo di Credi (Florence, vers 1458 - Florence, 1537) et Leonardo da Vinci (Vinci, 1452 - Amboise, 1519), L'Annonciation, vers 1475 - 1478 ?. H. : 0,16 m. ; L. : 0,60 m. Ancienne collection Campana, Rome, Musée du Louvre, M.I. 598. © Musée du Louvre/A. Dequier - M. Bard

The exhibition presents the central question about Leonardo’s authorship in three ways. The first element focuses on comparative looking and close study of the panel paintings, letting visitors develop their own conclusions. The second part of the exhibition presents the research into each painting, including taking visitors through the physical examination of the Louvre and Worcester panels, along with the technical imaging that reveals the workings of more than one mind and one hand. In addition to being able to view the paintings, the Museum provides ample seating with additional reading materials, for further study.

The final component addresses the original context of the paintings, with an image of the main altar panel in Pistoia, and an exploration of its relationship to the predella panels. The Mystery of Worcester’s Leonardo is being presented in a space within the suite of galleries housing the Museum’s European collection, surrounded by the Worcester Art Museum’s rich holdings of Renaissance art providing additional context for the study of these works. Moreover, the research demonstrating the painting’s connection to Leonardo makes WAM only the second museum in North America to own a painting by the Renaissance master (the other is the National Gallery of Art in Washington, D.C., which owns the painting Ginevra de' Benci, c. 1474/1478).

Leonardo da Vinci, Ginevra de' Benci, c. 1474–78. Oil on panel, 38.1 cm × 37 cm (15.0 in × 15 in), National Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C.

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Tragic love story, inspiring art and music for over 1,000 years, is focus of new Worcester Art Museum exhibition

March 12, 2018, 5:09 am

≫ Next: A green-glazed footed dish, Sui dynasty (581-618)

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Early Ming Dynasty, Chinese, Ming Huang and Yang Gueifei Listening to Music, (detail), 1368-1400, ink and light color on silk, Museum Purchase.

The tragic love story of the historic Chinese emperor Ming Huang (reigned 712-756) and his consort Yang Guifei has inspired artists, musicians, and writers across Asia for centuries. It is now the focus of a new exhibition, Dangerous Liaisons Revisited, opening at the Worcester Art Museum on January 20, 2018. Centered on the Museum’s 14th- to 17th-century Ming period handscroll painting, Ming Huang and Yang Guifei Listening to Music, the exhibition explores the story’s enduring appeal through 25 works ranging from the 7th to the 21st century, including tomb sculptures, ink paintings, prints, historical musical instruments, and contemporary works. The exhibition remains on view until April 22, 2018.

The prosperous Tang dynasty (618-907) is known as the golden age of Chinese art and culture, especially during the reign of the great music patron Ming Huang in the 8th century. Music played an important role at court by shaping behavior and social roles—from ritual music intended to cultivate morals and virtues for harmonious rule, to vernacular music of entertainment, which came to represent the sensuality and decadence of Tang court life.

The fateful liaison between Ming Huang and Yang Guifei began when she entered the imperial court at the age of 17 as the consort of the emperor’s son. Later, she annulled the marriage and became a nun in order to remarry as the emperor’s consort. When they wed, Yang Guifei was 27 years old and Ming Huang, who had already ruled for more than 30 years, was 61. His legendary reign ended in national crisis when—after a series of catastrophes—his affections for Yang Guifei were blamed for his negligence of duties, and his generals rebelled. As the emperor and Yang Guifei fled the capital, his remaining followers also mutinied by killing Yang Guifei.

Tang Dynasty, Horse Woman, 618-906, baked clay, Gift of Mr. and Mrs. Eugene Bernat, 1975.662, image courtesy of Worcester Art Museum.

“Love and tragedy are the defining characteristics of the story that has endured and inspired across cultures and centuries,” said Vivian Li, assistant curator of Asian Art at the Worcester Art Museum and curator of the exhibition. “That contemporary artists are as engaged with the tale of the emperor and his consort as their forbears testifies to the strong human resonance of this particular story. Generations of artists have interpreted this tragic love story, from paintings to plays.”

While the Tang dynasty never regained its former splendor, the ill-fated love between the emperor and the renowned beauty was immortalized in the widely-circulated poem of 806, “The Song of Everlasting Sorrow,” by the famous Tang poet Bai Juyi. This work has inspired numerous poets, writers, and artists in China—and later in Japan as the story traveled—from the 9th century to the present day.

Dangerous Liaisons Revisited explores three main themes: the shifting representation and meaning of the famous love story of Ming Huang and Yang Guifei in later Chinese and 2 Japanese art and culture; the role of music at the Chinese imperial court and as a metaphor for human desires; and the significance of the golden age of the Tang dynasty for later generations of artists, from the anonymous Ming period artist of the Worcester Art Museum’s handscroll painting to contemporary artists.

Chinese, Hourglass drum (zhanggu), 19th century; wood, bamboo, animal skin; Leslie Lindsey Mason Collection, Museum of Fine Arts, 17.1737.

In Ming Huang and Yang Guifei Listening to Music, the love between the emperor and his consort is expressed as they listen to an all-female orchestra at court. In addition to this painting and other works from the Museum’s collection, the exhibition features another rare Ming period handscroll depicting an all-female orchestra at the Chinese Tang court from the Art Institute of Chicago, as well as historical Chinese musical instruments from the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston. A pipa (lute), loaned by the Boston Symphony Orchestra, was acquired by the BSO on their first historic tour to China in 1979.

The ongoing relevance of the Tang dynasty’s cosmopolitanism and extravagance is highlighted by two contemporary works, Wang Qingsong’s photographic piece Night Revels of Lao Li (2000) and Peng Wei’s six-panel ink painting Coming Full Circle (2015). Night Revels of Lao Li parodies a famous Tang period handscroll painting of a court official’s degenerate night life. Wang’s monumental photographic work evokes the wealth and luxury of the Tang period to comment on the commercialism and decadence of contemporary Chinese art and culture.

Peng Wei’s Coming Full Circle draws on the popular landscape subject of Ming Huang’s escape to remote west China with Yang Guifei after he abdicated the throne to rebel forces. However, in her painted landscape, Peng also includes excerpts from the historical correspondence among early 20th-century literary luminaries Boris Pasternak, Marina Tsvetayeva, and Rainer Maria Rilke in the summer of 1926. The juxtaposition of the classic Tang period green and blue landscape imagery representing Ming Huang’s and Yang Guifei’s escape along with the letters’ text describing the plight and despair of Pasternak alienated in Stalinist Russia, Tsvetayeva living in poverty and alone in France, and Rilke suffering from leukemia in Switzerland creates new layers of meaning for both narratives that, like the other works in Dangerous Liaisons Revisited, transcends time and space.

Totoya Hokkei, Surimono. Genso and Yokihi Playing Sugoroku, about 1820, woodblock print, John Chandler Bancroft Collection, 1901.59.1935, image courtesy of Worcester Art Museum

Wang Qingsong, Night Revels of Lao Li, (detail) 2000/2018, inkjet print on paper, 120 x 960 cm, image courtesy of the artist.

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A green-glazed footed dish, Sui dynasty (581-618)

March 12, 2018, 5:36 am

≫ Next: A large Longquan celadon charger, Ming dynasty (1368-1644)

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Lot 8098. A green-glazed footed dish, Sui dynasty (581-618); 2 3/8in (31.3cm) diameter. Estimate US$ 3,000 - 5,000 (€ 2,400 - 4,100). © Bonhams 2001-2018

Potted with a flat slightly undulating floor, incised with three pairs of concentric circles and surrounded by a short, flared wall, all supported on a hollow, splayed foot with a chamfered foot rim, the exterior surfaces covered with a olive-green glaze, the interior of the foot unglazed, revealing the buff-colored body.

Note: For a similar example see Hsien-chi Tseng and Robert Paul Dart, The Charles B. Hoyt Collection in the Museum of Fine Arts: Boston, vol. I, Boston, 1964, no. 79.

Pedestaled dish decorated with white glaze, China, Sui dynasty to Tang dynasty, late 6th century A.D. to early 7th century A.D. Glazed stoneware, 8.9 x 12.3 cm (3 1/2 x 4 13/16 in.). Bequest of Charles Bain Hoyt—Charles Bain Hoyt Collection, 50.1362 © 2018 Museum of Fine Arts, Boston

Bonhams. CHINESE WORKS OF ART AND PAINTINGS, 19 Mar 2018, 12:00 EDT, NEW YORK

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A large Longquan celadon charger, Ming dynasty (1368-1644)

March 12, 2018, 5:44 am

≫ Next: A Longquan celadon 'Lotus' dish, Ming dynasty (1368-1644)

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Lot 8094. A large Longquan celadon charger, Ming dynasty (1368-1644); 14 1/2in (36.8cm) diameter. Estimate US$ 5,000 - 7,000 (€ 4,100 - 5,700). © Bonhams 2001-2018

Thickly molded with a raised edge to the rim flange and shallowly recessed ribs along the curving walls of the well, the exterior walls smoothly finished and all surfaces covered with a well-preserved olive green glaze except a cinnamon-burnt firing ring within the recessed base.

Bonhams. CHINESE WORKS OF ART AND PAINTINGS, 19 Mar 2018, 12:00 EDT, NEW YORK

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A Longquan celadon 'Lotus' dish, Ming dynasty (1368-1644)

March 12, 2018, 5:49 am

≫ Next: A Longquan celadon glazed 'bamboo' vase, 18th century

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Lot 8099. A Longquan celadon 'Lotus' dish, Ming dynasty (1368-1644); 13 3/4in (34.5 cm) diameter. Estimate US$ 2,000 - 3,000 (€ 1,600 - 2,400). © Bonhams 2001-2018

The rounded sides rising from a short tapered foot to a broad everted flange with galleried-rim, the floor freely incised with a lotus blossom, encircled by scrolling foliage decorating the well, covered overall with an olive-green glaze, stopping short of the edge of the burnt-orange foot ring.

Bonhams. CHINESE WORKS OF ART AND PAINTINGS, 19 Mar 2018, 12:00 EDT, NEW YORK

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A Longquan celadon glazed 'bamboo' vase, 18th century

March 12, 2018, 6:07 am

≫ Next: A Greenish-cream-glazed Lotus-petal Jar, Six dynasties-Northern Qi (220-577)

≪ Previous: A Longquan celadon 'Lotus' dish, Ming dynasty (1368-1644)

Lot 8095. A Longquan celadon glazed 'bamboo' vase, 18th century; 7 1/2in (19cm) high. Estimate US$ 3,000 - 5,000 (€ 2,400 - 4,100). © Bonhams 2001-2018

The globular body molded with a double ring at the midpoint of the body and four further rings on the neck and shoulders to simulate bamboo, the cylindrical neck supporting a cupped mouth, covered overall with a pale celadon glaze.

A very similar, although slightly smaller vase, also dated to the 18th century was sold in our San Francisco salesrooms 24 June 2014, lot 8275.

A celadon glazed 'bamboo' neck vase, 18th century; 6 3/4in (17.5cm) high. Sold for US$ 11,250 (€ 9,153) at Bonhams San Francisco, 24 June 2014, lot 8275. © Bonhams 2001-2014

Cf. my post: A celadon glazed 'bamboo' neck vase, 18th century

Bonhams. CHINESE WORKS OF ART AND PAINTINGS, 19 Mar 2018, 12:00 EDT, NEW YORK

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A Greenish-cream-glazed Lotus-petal Jar, Six dynasties-Northern Qi (220-577)

March 12, 2018, 6:32 am

≫ Next: Oliver Forge & Brendan Lynch Ltd at Asia Week New York, 15-24 march 2018

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Lot 8190. A Greenish-cream-glazed Lotus-petal Jar, Six dynasties-Northern Qi (220-577); 7 1/2in (19cm) high. Estimate US$ 2,000 - 3,000 (€ 1,600 - 2,400). © Bonhams 2001-2018

Of globular form with a straight neck and a circular flat foot, the exterior cut with eight linked lotus petals, the high shoulder applied with four angular strap handles, all covered under a lustrous greenish glaze.

Provenance: Uragami Sukyo-Do Co., Ltd., Tokyo, 2005

Note: Compare a related white-glazed ewer, Northern Qi dynasty, excavated from the tomb of Fan Cui, Anyang in 1971, now in the Henan Provincial Museum, of similar globular shape applied with strap handles and decorated with moulded lotus petals, illustrated in Zhongguo Meishu Quanji, Gongyi Meishu bian Vol.1: Taoci (Shang), Shanghai, p. 190, no. 234.

Bonhams. CHINESE WORKS OF ART AND PAINTINGS, 19 Mar 2018, 12:00 EDT, NEW YORK

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Oliver Forge & Brendan Lynch Ltd at Asia Week New York, 15-24 march 2018

March 12, 2018, 7:53 am

≫ Next: A Fujian Dehua glazed incised vase, Kangxi period (1662-1722)

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Jharoka Portrait of the Mughal Emperor Jahangir, India, 17th century. Opaque watercolor and gold on paper. 6.4 by 4.5 cm, 2 1/2 by 1 3/4 in. © Oliver Forge & Brendan Lynch Ltd

Jharokha or window portraits emerged in Mughal portraiture in the early seventeenth century as visual counterparts to the daily display of the emperors’ person at the window of the palace to the people below. The idea was extended by Jahangir (1569-1627) to the throne platforms in the Divan-i ‘Amm at agra and Lahore, so that he would appear set above and apart from the assembled nobles and
ministers below. The painted jharokha portraits are always bust portraits, head and shoulders only, the format coming from european portrait coins, medals and cameos introduced into the Mughal court in akbar’s reign. To make the truncated portrait acceptable in a court where naturalistic portraiture was still in its infancy, Mughal artists introduced another european idea, the bust portrait appearing above the carpeted parapet of a window. The ideas and the iconography behind the images are explored in Losty, pp. 52-64. For two contemporary jharoka portraits of Jahangir in the cleveland Museum of art, see Quintanilla, pp. 213-6, no. 4.71 & 4.72.

Jahangir in this bust portrait is facing left, his hands crossed in front of his chest, the left holding a pearl necklace, the right resting on the parapet holding the handle of a large gold ruby-set sarpech with plume of feathers. he wears his usual loose turban of gold and red stuff with a pearl pendant in front, a pearl earring and pearl necklaces, one of them of large pearls interspersed with differently coloured stones: spinels, sapphires and emeralds, while another holds a european cameo pendant. a gold nimbus radiating rays surrounds his head against a dark ground.

The portrait reflects Jahangir’s appearance in the early 1620s, as he appears in the boston durbar scene by Manohar (seyller, pp. 135-52, fig. 14) with his greying moustache and wispy beard but still with the curl terminating his sideburn, and definitely earlier than daulat’s jharokha image of 1627 (beach, pp. 305-20, fig. 11). an original by Manohar may be the basis of this portrait, which seems a decade or two later than its subject.

Inscriptions: The panel of nasta’liq above Jahangir reads: kitab-i ruba’iyat ‘book of Quatrains’. The surrounding text in the margins is from: yusuf va Zulaykha of nur al-din ‘abd al-rahman Jami. on the reverses is a page from: haft Paykar (seven beauties) section of the khamsah of nizami ganjavi (d. 1209).

Provenance: Berthe Erni-Kofler (1914-2016), Lucerne, Switzerland

References: Beach, M.C., ‘Daulat’ in Beach, M.C., Fischer, E., and Goswamy, B.N., Masters of Indian Painting, Zurich, 2011
Losty, J.P., ‘The carpet at the Window: a european Motif in the Mughal Jharokha Portrait’ in Indian Painting: Themes, History and Interpretations: Essays in Honour of B.N. Goswamy, ed. M. Sharma and P. Kaimal, Ahmedabad, 2013
Quintanilla, S. R., Mughal Paintings: Art and Stories, Cleveland, 2011
Seyller, J., ‘Manohar’ in Beach, M.C., Fischer, E., and Goswamy, B.N., Masters of Indian Painting, Zurich, 2011.

Illustration from a Ragamala series: Raga Agada, Bilaspur, India, 1690-1700. Opaque watercolour with gold on paper. Painting 7 ¼ by 4 ½ in., 18.8 by 11.9 cm. Folio 8 ½ by 6 in., 21.7 by 15.3 cm © Oliver Forge & Brendan Lynch Ltd

An exquisitely attired princess attended by a bevy of ladies reclines on a palace terrace at night as a prince arrives. Lucknow, India, circa 1780. © Oliver Forge & Brendan Lynch Ltd

Krishna releases Rukma at Balarama’s request. Kangra, India, circa 1820. © Oliver Forge & Brendan Lynch Ltd

Oliver Forge & Brendan Lynch Ltd. Exhibiting at 67 East 80th Street, Suite 2, New York 10075. T (212) 327 2479 - M +44 773 322 4531 - brendan@forgelynch.com - forgelynch.com - Twitter: @ForgeandLynch

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A Fujian Dehua glazed incised vase, Kangxi period (1662-1722)

March 12, 2018, 11:33 am

≫ Next: A blue and white bird-headed ewer, Kangxi period (1662-1722)

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Lot 8063. A Fujian Dehua glazed incised vase, Kangxi period (1662-1722); 12 1/4in (31 1/8cm) high. Estimate US$ 5,000 - 8,000 (€ 4,100 - 6,500). © Bonhams 2001-2018

Of stick neck form, the rolled lip slightly everted with an incised key fret pattern at the top and base of the neck, the neck also incised with two butterflies, the body with a peony design, the foot rim unglazed.

Bonhams. CHINESE WORKS OF ART AND PAINTINGS, 19 Mar 2018, 12:00 EDT, NEW YORK

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A blue and white bird-headed ewer, Kangxi period (1662-1722)

March 12, 2018, 11:46 am

≫ Next: The Collection of Tang Shao-yi at Bonhams New York, 19 March 2018

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Lot 8064. A blue and white bird-headed ewer, Kangxi period (1662-1722); 9 1/4in (23.5cm) high. Estimate US$ 4,000 - 6,000 (€ 3,300 - 4,900). © Bonhams 2001-2018

Of quatrefoil bottle form, raised on a foot with scalloped edges with a two-tiered neck terminating in a flaring mouth with a single notch, set to one side with a long curved spout formed in the shape of an open-mouthed phoenix, finely painted around the body with birds and insects among flowering prunus, peony and chrysanthemum, with various floral sprays repeated at the neck and finial.

Note: A Kangxi famille verte pair of ewers of the same form is illustrated by C.J.A. Jörg, Chinese Ceramics in the Collection of the Rijksmuseum, Amsterdam, London, 1997, Catalogue no.177, where it is noted that ewers of this type enjoyed popularity in Europe as exotic and decorative items.

A single ewer and cover from the Hodroff collection was sold at Christie's, New York, 23 January 2008, lot 241.

From The Collection Of Leo & Doris Hodroff. A blue and white phoenix ewer and cover, Kangxi period (1662-1722); 10 in. (25.4 cm.) high. Sold for 6,000 USD at Christie's, New York, 23 January 2008, lot 241. © Christie's Images Ltd 2008

Bonhams. CHINESE WORKS OF ART AND PAINTINGS, 19 Mar 2018, 12:00 EDT, NEW YORK

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The Collection of Tang Shao-yi at Bonhams New York, 19 March 2018

March 12, 2018, 2:31 pm

≫ Next: The J. Paul Getty Museum presents "Rembrandt and the Inspiration of India"

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Tang Shaoyi

Tang Shao-yi was the first prime minister of the Republic of China. Born in Guangdong Province in 1861, he was sent to the United States to attend grammar school, high school and college. Following his return to China, he rose to political prominence through several diplomatic appointments within the imperial Chinese government. He served as Consul-General in Korea, Special Commissioner to Tibet, and Governor of Fengtian Province in Manchuria. He was often dispatched on official missions as a special envoy of the Qing imperial court. In 1908 one such mission brought him to Washington for a visit that was heavily covered by the American press. He led a delegation that presented gifts to the Library of Congress and was received at the White House. Tang Shao-yi was appointed Premier after the Republican Revolution of 1911 and later held additional positions as Minister of Communications and Minister of Foreign Affairs. He developed a lifelong interest in Chinese porcelain during his years of public service. Upon retirement and until his death in 1938, he devoted himself to collecting porcelains, dividing his time between Shanghai and his villa and gardens in Tangjiawan in southern China. Tang Shao-yi acquired both fine porcelains and decorative Shiwan pieces made in his native province of Guangdong. His collection aptly reflected his sense of beauty and deep connection with his family heritage.

Tang Shaoyi

Tang Shaoyi and his first grandson, Tong Ping, at the family residence in Zhuhai.

Lot 8075. A blue and white baluster vase, Kangxi period (1662-1722); 17 1/2in (44.5cm) high. Estimate US$ 4,000 - 6,000 (€ 3,300 - 4,900). © Bonhams 2001-2018

Of typical yenyen form with the baluster body surmounted by a tall trumpet neck, painted with flowering prunus sprays reserved on a blue 'cracked ice' ground, with dentil borders around the mouth and the foot, with a double circle in underglaze blue to the foot.

Property in the Collection of Tang Shao-yi.

Lot 8076. A pair of blue and white 'auspicious objects' bowls, Daoguang marks and of the period (1821-1850); 7 1/8in (18.1cm) diameter. Estimate US$ 6,000 - 10,000 (€ 4,900 - 8,100). © Bonhams 2001-2018

The high exterior walls painted with four ruyi-bordered roundels enclosing four stylized characters reading wanshou wujiang (boundless long life), surrounded by lotus sprays and the bajixiang (eight auspicious objects), all between a classic scroll and a lappet band, the interior with a single shou medallion encircled by the bajixiang, the base with a six-character seal mark. (2)

Property in the Collection of Tang Shao-yi.

Lot 8077. A pair of blue and white 'auspicious objects' bowls, Daoguang marks and of the period (1821-1850); 7 1/8in (18.1cm) diameter. Estimate US$ 6,000 - 10,000 (€ 4,900 - 8,100). © Bonhams 2001-2018

Property in the Collection of Tang Shao-yi.

Lot 8078. Two blue and white shallow bowls, Kangxi marks and period (1662-1722); 6 1/4in (15.5cm) diameter. Estimate US$ 5,000 - 7,000 (€ 4,100 - 5,700). © Bonhams 2001-2018

Of similar form and pattern, each with a small boy wearing a waistband holding over his right shoulder a curling branch of a peony blossom forming a continuous meander, all on a blue-ground roundel, the exterior with single torn-off sprays of blossom and shrubs. (2)

Property in the Collection of Tang Shao-yi.

Lot 8079. Two blue and white shallow bowls, Kangxi marks and period (1662-1722); 6 1/4in (15.5cm) diameter. Estimate US$ 5,000 - 7,000 (€ 4,100 - 5,700). © Bonhams 2001-2018

Property in the Collection of Tang Shao-yi.

Lot 8080. Two underglaze blue and iron-red 'dragon' dishes, Daoguang seal marks and of the period (1821-1850); 7in (17.75cm) diameter. Estimate US$ 10,000 - 15,000 (€ 8,100 - 12,000). © Bonhams 2001-2018

Each of similar form and pattern, painted to the interior with a circular medallion enclosing an iron-red five-clawed dragon against a underglaze blue wave ground, the rims encircled with double lines, the exteriors rendered with a frieze of nine dragons in different poses on a similar wave ground, all between a cash border encircling the rim and pairs of double-lines around the foot, the exterior dragons also highlighted in iron-red, with six character marks on the foot. (2)

Property in the Collection of Tang Shao-yi.

Lot 8081. Two underglaze blue and iron-red 'dragon' dishes, Daoguang seal marks and of the period (1821-1850); 7in (17.75cm) diameter. Estimate US$ 10,000 - 15,000 (€ 8,100 - 12,000). © Bonhams 2001-2018

Each of similar form and pattern, painted to the interior with a circular medallion enclosing an iron-red five-clawed dragon against a underglaze blue wave ground, the rims encircled with double lines, the exteriors rendered with a frieze of nine dragons in different poses on a similar wave ground, all between a cloud border encircling the rim and pairs of double-lines around the foot, the exterior dragons also highlighted in iron-red, with six character marks on the foot. (2)

Property in the Collection of Tang Shao-yi.

Lot 8082. A blue and white 'dragon' jardinière, Late Qing-Republic Period; 14 1/2in (36.8cm) high. Estimate US$ 8,000 - 12,000 (€ 6,500 - 9,800). © Bonhams 2001-2018

The steeply rounded sides rising from a concave foot with recessed center, painted around the body in vibrant blue with five five-clawed dragons pursuing flaming pearls amid clouds above a band of foaming waves,with Qianlong six-character mark below the flat everted lip.

Property in the Collection of Tang Shao-yi.

Lot 8083. Six blue and white lotus dishes, Qing Dynasty; 6 1/8in (15.5cm) diameter, each dish. Estimate US$ 8,000 - 12,000 (€ 6,500 - 9,800). © Bonhams 2001-2018

The rounded sides rising to a slightly flared rim, painted to the interior with three dominant lotus blossoms surrounded by curling foliate stems and smaller sprays, below a band of lotus scrolls around the rim, the exterior similarly decorated with a continuous band of scrolling lotus, the bases with a six-character marks in underglaze blue, including two marked Kangxi, one Xianfeng, two Tongzhi, and one Guangxu. (6)

Property in the Collection of Tang Shao-yi.

Lot 8084. An underglaze blue and red 'cracked ice and prunus' vase, 18th-19th century; 13 1/4in (33.6cm) high. Estimate US$ 5,000 - 7,000 (€ 4,100 - 5,700). © Bonhams 2001-2018

The globular body and neck decorated with underglaze blue and red in a pattern of cracked ice and blossoming prunus with a double blue line at the rolled lip and at the foot.

Property in the Collection of Tang Shao-yi.

Lot 8085. A Massive Puce enameled 'dragon' vase, Late Qing-Republic Period; 21 1/2in (54.5cm) high. Estimate US$ 25,000 - 40,000 (€ 20,000 - 33,000). © Bonhams 2001-2018

Generously proportioned, the spherical body painted with vivid puce enamels to depict five-clawed dragons amid clouds, two pairs chasing flaming pearls with a fifth dragon at the neck, the claws and fangs highlighted with white enamel, the dragons soaring above turbulent waves at the foot, with an apocryphal Yongzheng mark to the base.

Property in the Collection of Tang Shao-yi.

Lot 8086. Three Langyao glazed dishes, Yongzheng, Qianlong and Daoguang marks and of the period; 6 1/2in (16.5cm) diameter the Yongzheng dish, 8 1/4in (20.5cm) diameter the Qianlong and Daoguang dishes. Estimate US$ 6,000 - 10,000 (€ 4,900 - 8,100). © Bonhams 2001-2018

The smaller dish with low sloping walls, the interior and exterior walls with a copper red glaze, with a six character mark in underglaze blue to the foot, the Qianlong and Daoguang of similar forms, the rims slightly everted, with six character marks in underglaze blue to the foot. (3)

Property in the Collection of Tang Shao-yi.

Lot 8087. Three copper red dishes, Qianlong seal marks and of the period (1736-1795); 6 1/2in (16.5cm) diameter. Estimate US$ 8,000 - 12,000 (€ 6,500 - 9,800). © Bonhams 2001-2018

With shallow rounded sides, each of the three dishes with the interior and exterior covered in a rich red glaze of a crushed-raspberry tone, draining to white at the lip, pooling to a deeper tone around the top of the foot, with a six-character reign mark in underglaze blue. (3)

Property in the Collection of Tang Shao-yi.

Lot 8088. Two copper red bowls, Qianlong seal marks and of the period (1736-1795); 7 3/4in (19.7cm) diameter. Estimate US$ 6,000 - 8,000 (€ 4,900 - 6,500). © Bonhams 2001-2018

The deep vessels covered on the exterior with langyao red glaze, the glaze thinning at the rim, the foot rim unglazed, six-character seal mark in underglaze-blue to base. (2)

Property in the Collection of Tang Shao-yi.

Lot 8089. Four Langyao glazed bowls, Yongzheng marks and of the period (1723-1735); 6in (15cm) diameter. Estimate US$ 10,000 - 15,000 (€ 8,100 - 12,000). © Bonhams 2001-2018

Each with shallow walls and supported by a straight foot ring, the exterior with an even copper red glaze pooling at the foot rim, the base with a six character mark in underglaze blue encircled by a double ring.(2)

Property in the Collection of Tang Shao-yi.

Lot 8090. A pair of Langyao glazed shallow bowls, Yongzheng marks and of the period (1723-1735); 7 1/4in (18.4cm) diameter. Estimate US$ 8,000 - 12,000 (€ 6,500 - 9,800). © Bonhams 2001-2018

Each with deep rounded sides supported on a straight foot raising to a gently everted rim, the exterior and interior with a copper red glaze pooling at the foot rim, the glazed pulled from the white rim, the foot with a six character mark in underglaze blue encircled by a double ring. (4)

Property in the Collection of Tang Shao-yi.

Lot 8091. Three Langyao glazed dishes, Daoguang seal marks and of the period (1821-1850); 8 1/4in (21cm) diameter. Estimate US$ 2,000 - 3,500 (€ 1,600 - 2,800). © Bonhams 2001-2018

With shallow sides rising to a white edged rim, the interior and exterior of each with an even deep red glaze, the six-character mark in seal script in underglaze blue at the center of the recessed base. (3)

Property in the Collection of Tang Shao-yi.

Lot 8092. Four Langyao glazed dishes, Daoguang seal marks and of the period (1821-1850); 8 1/4in (21cm) diameter. Estimate US$ 2,000 - 3,500 (€ 1,600 - 2,800). © Bonhams 2001-2018

Property in the Collection of Tang Shao-yi.

Lot 8093. Three Langyao glazed dishes, Daoguang seal marks and of the period (1821-1850); 8 1/4in (21cm) diameter. Estimate US$ 2,000 - 3,500 (€ 1,600 - 2,800). © Bonhams 2001-2018

Property in the Collection of Tang Shao-yi.

Lot 8096. A pair of Canton enameled metal bowls, 19th century; 9 3/4in (24.7cm) diameter. Estimate US$ 2,000 - 4,000 (€ 1,600 - 3,300). © Bonhams 2001-2018

Each bowl with deep curving walls, the copper lip and foot rim exposed, the exterior of each bowl with circular medallions enclosing auspicious fruit, flowers or insects scattered on a yellow ground, with a row of red lotus petals along the foot rim, the interior of each bowl with a cobalt blue bat and peach bough on a turquoise ground.

Property in the Collection of Tang Shao-yi.

Lot 8097. A pair of Canton enameled metal bowls, 19th century; 9 3/4in (24.7cm) diameter. Estimate US$ 2,000 - 4,000 (€ 1,600 - 3,300). © Bonhams 2001-2018

Property in the Collection of Tang Shao-yi.

Bonhams. CHINESE WORKS OF ART AND PAINTINGS, 19 Mar 2018, 12:00 EDT, NEW YORK

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The J. Paul Getty Museum presents "Rembrandt and the Inspiration of India"

March 13, 2018, 4:46 am

≫ Next: A large and important famille-verte 'Investiture of the gods' rouleau vase, Qing dynasty, Kangxi period (1662-1722)

≪ Previous: The Collection of Tang Shao-yi at Bonhams New York, 19 March 2018

LOS ANGELES.- Among the most surprising aspects of Rembrandt’s prodigious output are twenty-three surviving drawings closely based on portraits made by artists working in Mughal India. These drawings mark a striking diversion for this quintessentially Dutch “Golden Age” artist, the only time he made a careful and extensive study of art from a dramatically different culture. Rembrandt and the Inspiration of India, on view March 13 –June 24, 2018, at the J. Paul Getty Museum at the Getty Center, explores for the first time the artist’s Mughal drawings, exhibiting them alongside the Mughal paintings that inspired them to assess the impact of Indian art and culture on Rembrandt’s artistic interests and working process as a draftsman.

“Rembrandt may be one of the most famous painters in European art history, but there are still remarkable discoveries to be made about his work,” says Timothy Potts, director of the J. Paul Getty Museum. “This exhibition is a case in point, demonstrating how Rembrandt turned to the art of India to produce some of his most intriguing images. This vivid example of cultural exchange reminds us how artists on different continents take inspiration from one another, a reality that of course continues to this very day."

Rembrandt Harmensz. van Rijn (Dutch, 1606–1669), Shah Jahan and Dara Shikoh, ca. 1656–61. Brown ink and brown wash with white opaque watercolor and scratching out on Asian paper toned with light brown wash, 21.3 x 17.8 cm (8 3/8 x 7 in.). The J. Paul Getty Museum, Los Angeles 85.GA.44

The exhibition pairs twenty of Rembrandt’s surviving drawings depicting Mughal emperors, princes, and courtiers with Indian paintings and drawings of similar compositions, which had been brought to Amsterdam from the Dutch trading post in Surat. Rembrandt’s portraits reveal how his contact with Mughal art inspired him to draw in a newly refined and precise style.

“The critical eye and attentive curiosity Rembrandt turned towards Mughal portrait conventions still captivates viewers today. At this late stage in his career, around 1656-1661, this meticulous rendering is exceptional,” says Stephanie Schrader, Curator of Drawings and organizer of the exhibition.

Rembrandt Harmensz. van Rijn (Dutch, 1606–1669), Indian Ruler (Shah Shuja‘), ca. 1656–61. Brown ink and brown wash on Asian paper toned with light brown wash, 23 × 18 cm (91⁄16 × 71⁄8 in.), Vienna, Albertina Museum, 24471 www.albertina.at EX.2018.3.1

Rembrandt and the Inspiration of India also examines how global trade and cultural exchange impacted artists working for Mughal emperors in India, who were in turn inspired by Dutch and Flemish printed images of European rulers and scenes of daily life. Among the treasures found in a Dutch East India ship, which sank en route to China, was a package that contained four hundred prints by and after Dutch and Flemish artists. This astounding quantity suggests that Dutch merchants thought that art would help them gain access to the Asian market in the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries. These prints were particularly interesting to Mughal court artists, who were already accustomed to working with single-tone drawings and calligraphy. Rather than copy the European compositions exactly, Mughal artists adapted them to their own artistic purposes, as seen in Keshav Das’s Roman Hero (about 1590-95), based on prints by the Dutch artist Hendrick Goltzius. The use of these prints illuminates the range of images that found a positive reception in India long before Rembrandt made his creative copies.

The Mughal Emperor Shah Jahan (r. 1627-1658) was well known for his patronage of the arts — most notably the building of the Taj Mahal. Shah Jahan’s rule of Mughal India spanned the years that Rembrandt worked in Leiden and Amsterdam. In his eight drawings of Shah Jahan, more than he made of any other Mughal ruler, Rembrandt carefully studied the trappings of imperial magnificence, as seen in on Horseback (Shah Jahan) (about 1656-61). The poetic claim that Shah Jahan was “Royal Rider of the Piebald Steed of the World” was not lost on Rembrandt.

Rembrandt Harmensz. van Rijn (Dutch, 1606–1669), Four Mullahs Seated under a Tree (Sheikh Husain Jami, Sheikh Husain Ajmeri, Sheikh Muhammad Mazandarani, and Sheikh Miyan Mir), ca. 1656–61. Brown ink and brown and gray wash with scratching out on Asian paper toned with light brown wash, 19.4 × 12.4 cm (75⁄8 × 47⁄8 in.) London, The British Museum, 1895,0915.1275. Image © The Trustees of the British Museum. All rights reserved EX.2018.3.5

Rembrandt’s drawings after Mughal compositions constitute the largest group, by far, of his copies after other works of art. Moreover, they are his only surviving drawings on expensive Asian paper, which suggests the high value the artist himself placed on them. Shikoh (about 1656-60) is quite different from the typically known “late Rembrandt” style of drawing. His careful attention to details of clothing, jewelry, turbans, and footwear pays tribute to Mughal artists’ exceptional artifice.

On almost every level, Rembrandt and the Indian court painters operated in completely different worlds. Yet such differences did not prevent these innovative artists from appropriating foreign imagery to reflect upon and enrich their own more familiar artistic practice and culture.

Rembrandt and the Inspiration of India is curated by Stephanie Schrader, curator in the Department of Drawings. The exhibition is on view at the J. Paul Getty Museum at the Getty Center from March 13 –June 24, 2018.

Rembrandt Harmensz. van Rijn (Dutch, 1606–1669), A Mughal Nobleman Standing (Prince Daniyal), ca. 1656–61. Brown ink and brown wash with red chalk and white opaque watercolor on Asian paper, 18.4 × 11.2 cm (7¼× 47⁄16 in.), London, The British Museum, Bequeathed by George Salting, 1910,0212.182. Image © The Trustees of the British Museum. All rights reserved EX.2018.3.7.

Rembrandt Harmensz. van Rijn (Dutch, 1606–1669), A Deccani Nobleman Standing (Muhammad ‘Adil Shah of Bijapur), ca. 1656–61. Brown ink and brown and gray wash with scratching out on Asian paper toned with light brown wash, 19.6 × 15.8 cm (711⁄16 × 6¼ in.), London, The British Museum, 1895,0915.1280. Image © The Trustees of the British Museum. All rights reserved EX.2018.3.8.

Rembrandt Harmensz. van Rijn (Dutch, 1606–1669), Two Mughal Noblemen (Shah Jahan and Dara Shikoh), ca. 1656–61. Brown ink and brown and gray wash with white opaque watercolor and scratching out on Asian paper toned with light brown wash, 17.2 × 21.4 cm (6 3/4 × 8 7⁄16 in.), London, The British Museum, 1895,0915.1281. Image © The Trustees of the British Museum. All rights reserved EX.2018.3.9.

Rembrandt Harmensz. van Rijn (Dutch, 1606–1669), A Mughal Nobleman on Horseback (Shah Jahan), ca. 1656–61. Brown ink and brown and gray wash with red chalk wash and red and yellow chalk lightly toned with light brown wash on Asian paper, 20.5 × 17.7 cm (8 1⁄16 × 6 15⁄16 in.), London, The British Museum, Bequeathed by Clayton Mordaunt Cracherode, PD Gg,2.262. Image © The Trustees of the British Museum. All rights reserved EX.2018.3.10.

Muhammad Mushin, Indian (Mughal), Jahangir, ca. 1630–35. Opaque watercolor and gold on paper. Painting: 31.1 × 21 cm (12 1/4 × 8 1/4 in.). Private Collection, EX.2018.3.15.

Attributed to Bichitr Indian (Mughal), active 1615–50. Folio from the St. Petersburg Album, Akbar and Jahangir in Apotheosis, ca. 1640. Opaque watercolor, ink, and gold on paper. Page: 48.4 × 33 cm (19 1/16 × 13 in.); painting: 27.5 × 16.8 cm (10 13/16 × 6 5/8 in.), Private Collection, EX.2018.3.16.

Rembrandt Harmensz. van Rijn (Dutch, 1606–1669), Shah Jahan, Standing with a Flower and a Sword, ca. 1656–61. Brown ink with brown wash on Asian paper with horizontal strip added along bottom edge, 17.8 × 10.1 cm (7 × 4 in.). Paris, Fondation Custodia, Collection Frits Lugt, 592 EX.2018.3.21.

Unknown Indian (Mughal) artist, after an engraving by Simon van de Passe (Dutch, 1596–1647), Portrait of Queen Anne of Denmark, first half of the seventeenth century. Ink on paper, 25 × 18.5 cm (9 13/16 × 7 5/16 in.), Paris, Musée national des Arts Asiatiques–Guimet, MA 2646. Image © RMN-Grand Palais / Art Resource, NY. Photo: Thierry Ollivier EX.2018.3.25.

Bichitr Indian (Mughal), active 1615–50. Folio from Minto Album, Jujhar Singh Bundela Kneels in Submission to Shah Jahan, ca. 1630–40. Opaque watercolor and gold on paper. Page: 39 × 27 cm (15 3/8 × 10 5/8 in.); painting: 26.4 × 16.2 cm (10 3/8 × 6 3/8 in.), Dublin, Trustees of the Chester Beatty Library, CBL In 07A.16. Image © Trustees of the Chester Beatty Library, Dublin (CBL In 07A.16) EX.2018.3.29.

Unknown Indian (Deccani) artist, Portrait of Muhammad ‘Adil Shah of Bijapur, ca. 1685. Opaque watercolor and gold on paper. Page: 12 × 9.4 cm (4 3/4 × 3 11/16 in.), Amsterdam, Rijksmuseum, RP-T-1995-25 EX.2018.3.34.

Rembrandt Harmensz. van Rijn (Dutch, 1606–1669), An Indian Archer, ca. 1656–61. Brown ink and brown and gray washes with red wash, white opaque watercolor, and scratching out on Asian paper toned with light brown wash, 18.8 × 13.1 cm (7 3/8 × 5 3/16 in.) Amsterdam, Rijksmuseum, RP-T-1897-A-3203 EX.2018.3.35.

Rembrandt Harmensz. van Rijn (Dutch, 1606–1669), Jahangir, ca. 1656–61. Brown ink and brown, gray, and red washes with scratching out on Asian paper toned with light brown wash, 18.3 × 12 cm (7 3/16 × 4 3/4 in.), Amsterdam, Rijksmuseum, De Bruijn-van der Leeuw Bequest, Muri, Switzerland, RP-T-1961-82 EX.2018.3.36.

Rembrandt Harmensz. van Rijn (Dutch, 1606–1669), Shah Jahan and His Son, ca. 1656–61; Brown ink and brown wash with scratching out on Asian paper toned with light brown wash, 6.9 × 7.1 cm (2 11/16 × 2 13/16 in.), Amsterdam, Rijksmuseum, Gift of J. G. Bruijnvan der Leeuw, Muri, RP-T-1961-83 EX.2018.3.38

Rembrandt Harmensz. van Rijn (Dutch, 1606–1669), The Emperor Akbar and Jahangir in Apotheosis, after a Mughal Miniature, ca. 1656–61 Brown ink with brown wash with white opaque watercolor and scratching out on Asian paper toned with light brown wash 21.2 × 17.6 cm (8 3/8 × 6 15/16 in.) Rotterdam, Museum Boijmans van Beuningen (former collection Koenigs), R 36 (PK). Photo: Studio Tromp, Rotterdam EX.2018.3.39.

Rembrandt Harmensz. van Rijn (Dutch, 1606–1669), Shah Jahan, ca. 1656–61. Dark brown ink and dark brown wash with scratching out on Asian paper toned with light brown wash, 22.5 × 17.1 cm (8 7/8 × 6 3/4 in.), Cleveland, The Cleveland Museum of Art, Leonard C. Hanna Jr. Fund, 1978.38. Image © The Cleveland Museum of Art EX.2018.3.41.

Govardhan Indian (Mughal), active 1596–ca. 1645, Shah Jahan Enthroned with His Son Dara Shikoh, ca. 1630–40. Opaque watercolor and gold on paper. Page: 47.8 × 34.2 cm (18 13/16 × 13 1/2 in.); painting: 29 × 19.8 cm (11 7/16 × 7 13/16 in.). San Diego, The San Diego Museum of Art, Edwin Binney 3rd Collection, 1990.347. Image: San Diego Museum of Art, USA / Bridgeman Images EX.2018.3.50.

Rembrandt Harmensz. van Rijn (Dutch, 1606–1669), Portrait of Aurangzeb (after a Mughal painting), ca. 1656–61. Brown ink with brown wash, black chalk, white opaque watercolor, and scratching out on Asian paper; with later additions in gray wash and scratching out, 18 × 7.3 cm (7 1/16 × 2 7/8 in.), Cambridge, Harvard Art Museums / Fogg Museum, Bequest of Charles A. Loeser, 1932.366. Imaging Department © President and Fellows of Harvard College EX.2018.3.55.

Unknown artist, after Adriaen Brouwer (Flemish, 1605/6–1638), Pancake Woman, 1650–80. Engraving State ii/ii published by Frederick de Wit (ca. 1630–1706). Diameter: 18.1 cm (7 1⁄8 in.), London, The British Museum, S.6265. Image © The Trustees of the British Museum. All rights reserved EX.2018.3.12.

Unknown Indian (Mughal) artist, after an engraving made after Adriaen Brouwer (Flemish, 1605/6–1638), Pancake Woman, ca. 1640–80. Opaque watercolor with gold on paper. Painting: 16.4 × 19.2 cm (6 1/2 × 7 9/16 in.), Fiona Chalom and Joel Aronowitz EX.2018.3.44.

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A large and important famille-verte 'Investiture of the gods' rouleau vase, Qing dynasty, Kangxi period (1662-1722)

March 13, 2018, 6:22 am

≫ Next: A large doucai 'Immortals' jardinière, Kangxi mark and period (1662-1722)

≪ Previous: The J. Paul Getty Museum presents "Rembrandt and the Inspiration of India"

Lot 322. A large and important famille-verte'Investiture of the gods' rouleau vase, Qing dynasty, Kangxi period (1662-1722). Height 29 1/4 in., 74.2 cm. Estimate 400,000 — 600,000 USD. © Sotheby's

the cylindrical body magnificently painted in vibrant translucent enamels and fine-lined details with a scene from Feng shen bang (Investiture of the Gods), at the left two émigrés from the Shang royal lineage deferentially bowing to the conquering army led by King Wu of Zhou, the King accompanied by heavily armed cavalry, strategists, deities, immortals, and demons supporting his claim to the Mandate of Heaven, banners overhead billowing with their steadfast advance, a grove of soaring trees amid jagged boulders marking the edge of the scene, the shoulder with plum blossom sprays alternating with shaped cartouches enclosing the 'Hundred Antiques' all against a speckled green ground, the neck with images of Liu Hai teasing the Hehe Erxian under a full moon, colorful keyfret or ruyi-head borders dividing each decorative zone, the glazed base unmarked, coll. no 1420.

The Jie Rui Tang Collection

Provenance: Tonying & Company, New York.
St. Louis Art Museum, St. Louis, Missouri, acc. no. 113.1916.
Christie's New York, 30th March 2005, lot 396.

Exhibited: Embracing Classic Chinese Culture: Kangxi Porcelains from the Jie Rui Tang Collection, Sotheby’s, New York, 2014, cat. no. 2.

Literature: Jeffrey P. Stamen and Cynthia Volk with Yibin Ni, A Culture Revealed: Kangxi-era Chinese Porcelain from the Jie Rui Tang Collection, Bruges, 2017, pl. 1.

SEEKING HEAVEN’S BLESSING

Of imposing size, the brilliantly painted imagery that envelopes the cylindrical body bristles with activity. Exquisitely painted with a continuous narrative, this resplendent animated scene is derived from the famous 16th century novel Fengshen Bang (The Investiture of the Gods). The story describes the downfall of the Shang dynasty (1600-1046 BC) crumbling under the tyrannical rule of a dissolute and depraved ruler and its conquest by the righteous King Wen of Zhou whose son, King Wu, established the Zhou dynasty (1046-256 BC). The historical basis for the vividly described conflict is fantastically augmented by an array of immortals, spirits and demons fighting alongside humans vying for supremacy. The events of the 2nd millennium BC clearly established a correlation between the actions of a ruler and divinely granted right to rule. Only a wise and benevolent sovereign could inspire the necessary loyalty from both men and celestial beings in order to be granted the Mandate of Heaven. The historical event responsible for establishing the Mandate of Heaven was of such significance that it attained legendary status. This linkage of meritorious leadership and dynastic power had particular resonance for the Kangxi emperor who was determined to stabilize the empire and legitimize his mandate.

Every aspect of this magnificent vase serves to positively endorse a correlation between the victorious Zhou and newly established Manchu dynasty. The composition ingeniously integrates with the columnar form as the closely gathered assemblage of the victorious Zhou army in staggered formation encounters a meager representation of its enemy in the form of two Shang princes bowing in deference. The overwhelming pictorial imbalance between the opposing forces reinforces the legitimacy of the Zhou triumph. The clever configuration is immeasurably strengthened by the virtuosity of the painting. An array of vivid green and blue enamels, balanced by warm yellow and iron-red tones is considerably enriched with black and gilt enamels masterfully applied for definition and depth. Each figure and animal is individualized with differing coloration, accoutrements or apparel and a captivating range of demeanor registered on the many and varied visages. Several of the key figures, both historical and mythological, can be identified by distinctive features or attributes.

Vases of similar impressive dimension of this superlative quality and brilliantly painted with densely populated figural scenes are exceptionally rare. There appears to be only one other vase that closely compares with the present example, in the Asian Art Museum, San Francisco and illustrated in R. L. d'Argencé Chinese Ceramics in the Avery Brundage Collection, San Francisco, 1967, pl. 68 and again by He Li, Chinese Ceramics A New Comprehensive Survey, New York, 1996, pl. 646 (fig. 1). The vase features a large official gathering as the Song dynasty Zhenzong emperor bestows an honorary seal on the Generals of the Yang family. The meticulously rendered figures (of which there are an impressive 56) are painted with the same consummate skill that distinguishes the present example.

fig. 1. Mallet vase with warriors. China; Jiangxi province, Qing dynasty, Reign of the Kangxi emperor (1662 - 1722). Porcelain with overglaze polychrome decoration. Asian Art Museum of San Francisco, The Avery Brundage Collection, B60P1237. Photograph © Asian Art Museum of San Francisco

Other vases of equivalent dimension and finely enameled with figural scenes include two from the John L. Severence Collection, donated to the Cleveland Museum of Art in 1936 and sold at Christie’s New York 21st September 2000, lot 324 with a scene depicting a large official gathering, and lot 322 depicting an elaborate festival honoring the Queen of the West, Xiwangmu, now in the Jie Rui Tang Collection. Other similar examples with numerous figures include one sold in our London rooms, 7th November 2007, lot 329; one depicting The Tale of Kunyang City in the Taft Museum, Cincinnati, Ohio illustrated in As You Wish, Symbol and Meaning on Chinese Porcelains from the Taft Museum, China Institute Gallery, New York, 1994, fig. 3, p. 13; three from the Benjamin Altman Collection in the Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, acquisition nos. 14.40.85, 14.40.83, 14.40.331; and another from the collection of J. Goldschmidt illustrated in Ausstellung Chinesischer Kunst, Berlin, 1929, cat. no. 892. Additionally two further examples of famille-verte rouleau vases of similar size are illustrated in R. L. Hobson, The Leonard Gow Collection of Chinese Porcelain, London, 1931, pls. XXV depicting a dragon boat festival scene and XLVIIIa painted with the 'Three Star Gods'.

Vase with Scene from the Dragon Boat Festival, Qing dynasty (1644–1911), Kangxi period (1662–1722), late 17th–early 18th century. Porcelain painted with colored enamels over transparent glaze (Jingdezhen ware). H. 27 3/4 in. (70.5 cm). Bequest of Benjamin Altman, 1913, 14.40.85 © 2000–2018 The Metropolitan Museum of Art

Vase, Qing dynasty (1644–1911), Kangxi period (1662–1722). Porcelain painted in famille verte enamels. H. 28 3/4 in. (73 cm). Bequest of Benjamin Altman, 1913, 14.40.83 © 2000–2018 The Metropolitan Museum of Art

Vase with Immortals Offering the Peaches of Longevity, Qing dynasty (1644–1911), Kangxi period (1662–1722). Porcelain painted with overglaze enamels. H. 29 in. (73.7 cm); W. 8 in. (20.3 cm); Diam. of rim: 6 1/8 in. (15.6 cm); Diam. of foot: 6 in. (15.2 cm). Bequest of Benjamin Altman, 1913, 14.40.331 © 2000–2018 The Metropolitan Museum of Art

Related comparable large vases but more summarily painted with shaped panels enclosing beasts and flowers reserved on a stippled ground include one illustrated in Walter Bondy, K'ang-hsi, Munich, 1923, pp. 136 and 140 and two from Collection of John D. Rockefeller and the Metropolitan Museum of Art sold at Christie’s New York 15th September 2016, lots 870 and 871.

From John D. Rockefeller Jr. (1874-1960) Collection. A large and finely decorated famille verte rouleau vase, Kangxi period (1662-1722); 28 ¾ in. (73 cm.) high. Sold for 112,500 USD at Christie’s New York 15th September 2016, lot 870. © Christie's Image Ltd 2016.

Cf. my post: A large and finely decorated famille verte rouleau vase, Kangxi period (1662-1722)

From John D. Rockefeller Jr. (1874-1960) Collection. A large and finely decorated famille verte rouleau vase, Kangxi period (1662-1722); 28 1/8 in. (71.4 cm.) high. Sold for 52,500 USD at Christie’s New York 15th September 2016, lot 871. © Christie's Image Ltd 2016.

Cf. my post: A large and finely decorated famille verte rouleau vase, Kangxi period (1662-1722)

It appears few examples of these important large scale vases are in Chinese museum collections. A blue and white rouleau vase of the same height painted with a figural scene is in the Palace Museum, Beijing and illustrated in Chen Runmin, ed., Gugong Bowuyuan cang Qingdai ciqi lei xuan [Qing porcelains from the Palace Museum Collection Selected by Type], vol. 1: Qing Shunzhi Kangxi chao qinghua ci [Blue-and-white porcelain of the Shunzhi and Kangxi reigns of the Qing], Beijing, 2005, pl. 293. Another blue and white vase of the same impressive dimensions but painted with a landscape is in the Shanghai Museum and illustrated in Kangxi Porcelain Wares from the Shanghai Museum Collection, Hong Kong, 1998, pl. 52. In describing the vase, Lu Minghua comments particularly on both the technical skill required to model such large pieces and the superlative quality of the painting.

Provenance from Tonying & Co. is notable. The company was founded in 1902 by Zhang Renjie (1877-1950) who was an attaché of the Qing government to Paris. Through favorable government connections Zhang enjoyed privileged access to art collections of the nobility as well as the imperial family. Zhang emigrated from China in 1939, living first in Europe and then in New York. From at least 1925 the firm held several sales through the American Art Associates in New York, which in 1938 was taken over by Parke-Bernet Galleries who continued to hold auctions for Tonying through the 1950s. For further reading on the subject see Roy Davids and Dominic Jellinek, Provenance: Collectors, Dealers & Scholars in the Field of Chinese Ceramics in Britain & America, Great Haseley, 2011, pp 421-422.

Sotheby's. KANGXI: The Jie Rui Tang Collection, New York, 20 March 2018, 11:00 AM

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A large doucai 'Immortals' jardinière, Kangxi mark and period (1662-1722)

March 13, 2018, 7:27 am

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Lot 367. A large doucai'Immortals' jardinière, Kangxi mark and period (1662-1722). Width 20 1/8 in., 51.1 cm. Estimate 350,000 — 500,000 USD. © Sotheby's

of square section with canted corners, the sides sweeping upward from a waisted foot to a flat everted rim, the exterior painted in rich enamels outlined in softly colored underglaze blue, the continuous composition dominated by the roiling Eastern Sea punctuated by vertiginous peaks of the Islands of Immortality, one side with the Queen Mother of the West tranquilly traversing the crested waves on the back of a white elephant, a crane flying towards her with a scroll and a female attendant following closely astride a qilin, the other sides with additional attendants journeying on qilin, heavenly horses, petals, and leaves bearing auspicious gifts for the goddess, the foot molded with foliate cartouches enclosing scrolling lotus, pendent leafing pomegranate dangling between each cartouche, the top of the broad rim with stylized shou characters and prunus blossoms against a floral brocade ground, the underside of the rim with two horizontal six-character marks in underglaze blue, the lower interior and base unglazed, the base centered with a large circular aperture, coll. no. 1572.

The Jie Rui Tang Collection

Provenance: Milan Private Collection.
Christie's London, 15th May 2007, lot 282.

Exhibited: Embracing Classic Chinese Culture: Kangxi Porcelains from the Jie Rui Tang Collection, Sotheby’s, New York, 2014, cat. no. 25.

Literature: Michel Beurdeley and Guy Raindre, Qing Porcelain: Famille Rose, Famille Verte, London, 1987, fig. 62.
Jeffrey P. Stamen and Cynthia Volk with Yibin Ni, A Culture Revealed: Kangxi-era Chinese Porcelain from the Jie Rui Tang Collection, Bruges, 2017, pl. 14.

SOWING THE SEEDS OF LONGEVITY: IMPERIAL ‘BIRTHDAY’ JARDINIERES OF THE LATE KANGXI PERIOD

The present jardinière represents the pinnacle of doucai porcelain in the Kangxi period. The colors are clear and crisp, applied in a harmonious balance of soft and vibrant tones, imbuing the coursing waves, mythical beasts, and immortal maidens with dynamism and vivacity. The boldness of the enamels and scale of the vessel mark a departure from delicate, restrained doucai porcelains of the Ming dynasty. The brushwork, too, places the jardinière in a mature phase of Qing dynasty porcelain production. As James Watt observed, jardinières of this type adopt Transitional Period Daoist subject matter, yet they have finer brushwork, a higher level of detail, and pictorial elements borrowed from woodblock-printed pattern books and painting manuals, all of which characterize Qing porcelain painting in the eighteenth century (Wen C. Fong and James C. Y. Watt, Possessing the Past: Treasures from the National Palace Museum, Taipei, Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, p. 506). According to Peter Y. K. Lam, the style of the reign marks on the jardinière also point to a date late in the Kangxi emperor’s reign. His research indicates that between 1713 and 1722, artisans began writing ‘Qing’ with a vertical interior stroke in the ‘moon’ radical (Peter Y. K. Lam, ‘Lang Tingji and the Porcelain of the Late Kangxi Period’, Transactions of the Oriental Ceramic Society, vol. 68, 2003-2004, p. 44). This is precisely the style of reign mark that occurs on the present jardinière and others of its type.

Lam further proposes that porcelains combining longevity subjects and this style of reign mark were produced in 1722 in anticipation of the Emperor’s 70th birthday the following year (ibid., p. 44). This corroborates Watt’s opinion that the National Palace Museum’s jardinière of a similar subject and style was made as part of a set specifically for the Kangxi emperor’s birthday (op. cit., p. 506). Paintings of Qing imperial birthdays illustrate the display of jardinières, antiquities, and artworks as part of the opulent celebrations, which suggests that this group of imperially marked ‘longevity’ jardinières would have been filled with appropriate plants and placed on view for guests to admire during the festivities. For paintings illustrating the Kangxi emperor’s 60th birthday celebration and the Qianlong emperor’s 70th birthday celebration, see China: The Three Emperors, 1662-1795, Royal Academy of Arts, London, 2005, cat. nos 25 and 26.

Imperial Kangxi jardinières of this birthday-themed group share a number of features including impressive size, doucaidecoration, faceted bodies, immortality motifs, and two horizontal six-character reign marks inscribed in underglaze blue on the underside of the rim. Known examples have either six or eight sides, an everted rim that is either shaped or geometric, and either a continuous waisted foot or multiple ruyi-form feet. The large square-section planters with canted corners and a continuous waisted foot, as seen here, are the rarest of the formulations. A famille-verte jardinière of this form with bird and flower motifs from the Qing Court Collection and now in the Palace Museum is illustrated in Complete Collection of Treasures of the Palace Museum: Porcelains in Polychrome and Contrasting Colors, Hong Kong, 1999, cat. no. 95. A jardinière of related form, with the same base decoration but with bird and flower decoration from the collection of Brooke Astor was sold in these rooms, 24th September 2012, lot 626.

From the collection of Brooke Astor. A Chinese famille-verte octogonal jardinière, Kangxi mark and period (1662-1722); width 20 1/4 in., 51.4 cm. Sold for 410,500 USD at Sotheby's New York, 24th September 2012, lot 626. © Sotheby's

Three doucai jardinières belonging to the Imperial ‘birthday’ group have remained in the Palace collections. An elongated hexagonal example with a waisted foot, shaped rim, and an image of male immortals by a roiling sea is now in the Palace Museum, Beijing, ibid., cat. no. 192 (fig. 1). A second jardinière with this shape and subject, but supported on ruyi feet, is in the collection of the National Palace Museum, Taipei, illustrated by Wen C. Fong and James C. Y. Watt, op. cit., pl. 289. The third of this type, also in the National Palace Museum, Taipei, is of hexagonal form set on ruyi feet, illustrated in Porcelain of the National Palace Museum: Enameled Ware of the Qing Dynasty, vol. 1, Hong Kong, 1969, pl. 5. A related pair of elongated hexagonal jardinières with male Daoist immortals and lobed rims sold at Sotheby's London, 10th July 1979, lot 175. A similar example with male immortals, a shaped rim, and a diaper pattern around the waisted foot sold at Christie’s Hong Kong, 28th November 2005, lot 1336. Another jardinière, also with male Daoist immortals and a shaped rim but resting on ruyifeet sold at Sotheby's Hong Kong, 31st October – 1st November 1974, lot 271 and again at Christie's New York, 15th-16th September 2011, lot 1549. In each case, the reign mark is written in the same manner with a vertical stroke at the interior of the ‘moon’ radical in ‘Qing’.

A Rare Large Doucai Hexagonal Jardiniere. Kangxi Six-Character Mark In Underglaze Blue In A Line And Of The Period (1662-1722); 22 in. (56 cm.) long. Sold for $242,500 at Christie's New York, 15th-16th September 2011, lot 1549. © Christie's Ltd 2011

Cf. my post: A Rare Large Doucai Hexagonal Jardiniere, Kangxi Six-Character Mark In Underglaze Blue In A Line And Of The Period (1662-1722)

Sotheby's. KANGXI: The Jie Rui Tang Collection, New York, 20 March 2018, 11:00 AM

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A rare famille-verte 'Peach' stembowl and cover, Qing dynasty, Kangxi period (1662-1722)

March 13, 2018, 8:17 am

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LOt 346. A rare famille-verte 'Peach' stembowl and cover, Qing dynasty, Kangxi period (1662-1722). Height 7 1/8 in., 18.2 cm. Estimate 150,000 — 250,000 USD. © Sotheby's

the finely potted bowl with deeply rounded sides rising to a slightly flaring upright rim all supported on a hollow conical stem, the exterior delicately painted with a band of vibrant iron red peaches interwoven with underglaze-blue and emerald green leaves, the interior with a central medallion enclosing a pair of birds perched in a blossoming peony tree above rocks and lingzhi, the domed cover with a gently everted rim and an openwork circular knop naturalistically modeled in the form of an aubergine and blue enamled gnarled branch issuing leaves and continuing around the dome with painted branches of fruiting peaches, (2), coll. no. 418.

The Jie Rui Tang Collection.

Provenance: Collection of Duncan Beresford-Jones, Esq. (1903-2000), Castle Hedingham, Essex, England.
Christie's London, 6th June 2000, lot 358.

Exhibited: Embracing Classic Chinese Culture: Kangxi Porcelains from the Jie Rui Tang Collection, Sotheby’s, New York, 2014, cat. no. 31.

Note: The refined potting and restrained soft enamels of this stembowl exemplify the best qualities of Jingdezhen artistry of the late Kangxi period. Although it is unmarked, the fineness of the craftsmanship indicates that it was made with the imperial family in mind. The painted peaches, a conventional emblem of immortality, further suggest that the stembowl was intended as a birthday gift.

In the Ming and Qing dynasties, major festivals were held for the 60th, 70th, and 80th birthdays of the emperor and the emperor's mother. These celebrations could last for weeks and involved numerous banquets, performances, and processions, as well as gifts made for the emperor to receive and to bestow in Beijing. So many porcelains were required for the Kangxi emperor's 60th birthday (1713) that the Jingdezhen kilns had to start producing the works more than two years in advance; the same was true for his 70th birthday (1723), which he missed by only three months.

Given the 'longevity' theme and superb quality of this stembowl and those of its type, they were probably commissioned for the Dowager Empress or Emperor Kangxi on the occasion of their 60th birthdays (1673 and 1713, respectively), or in anticipation of the emperor's 70th birthday (1723). Peter Y. K. Lam documents exceptional porcelains produced for these events in 'Myriad Longevity without Borders: Some Qing Imperial Birthday Ceramics from Hong Kong Collections', Arts of Asia, vol. 40, no. 5, September - October 2010, pp. 106-117.

The present example is the only one known with its complete original cover. The only other known example with a cover, but with a later replaced finial, is from the collection of Ernest Grandidier in the Musée Guimet, Paris (coll. no. G 3493) and illustrated in Oriental Ceramics, Tokyo, 1981, vol. 7, pl. 154 (fig. 1).

Famille Verte Stembowl and Cover, Qing dynasty, Kangxi period, Musée Guimet, Paris. © RMN-Grand Palais/Thierry Olliver/Art Resource, NY.

Other stembowls of this type without their covers included one from the Qing Court Collection in the Nanjing Museum is illustrated in Qing Imperial Porcelain of the Kangxi, Yongzheng and Qianlong Reigns, Hong Kong, 1995, pl. 25; and a second one from the Qing Court Collection in the Palace Museum, Beijing included in Gugong bowuyuan cang: gu taoci ziliao xuan cui [Palace Museum Collection: Selected Material on Ancient Ceramics], vol. II, Beijing, 2005, pl. 52; and another stem bowl from the Porzellansammlung, Dresden was exhibited in Ausstellung Chinesischer Kunst, Berlin, 1929, cat. no. 1022; one from the collection of Sir Harry and Lady Garner sold in our London rooms, 7th June 1994, lot 379; and another sold at Christie's Hong Kong, 30th May 2006, lot 1428.

A Rare Famille Verte Stembowl and Cover, Kangxi period (1662-1722); 6 1/8 in. (15.6 cm.) diam. Sold for 288,000 HKD at Christie's Hong Kong, 30th May 2006, lot 1428. © Christie's Images Ltd 2006

Sotheby's. KANGXI: The Jie Rui Tang Collection, New York, 20 March 2018, 11:00 AM

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A large famille-verte 'Tale of Kunyang City' yen yen vase, Qing dynasty, Kangxi period (1662-1722)

March 13, 2018, 8:36 am

≫ Next: A fine blue-ground and yellow-enameled 'dragon' dish, Kangxi mark and period (1662-1722)

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Lot 350. A large famille-verte'Tale of Kunyang City'yen yen vase, Qing dynasty, Kangxi period (1662-1722). Height 29 in., 73.8 cm. Estimate 120,000 — 150,000 USD. © Sotheby's

of baluster form surmounted by a trumpet neck and flared rim, painted all around in pastel-hued enamels with a dramatic battle scene depicting General Liu Xiu of the Han dynasty driving Wang Xun, the rebel leader, and his army of wild animals out of Kunyang, the action taking place by the city gate with Liu Xiu stationed on top of the gate among officials and generals, and appearing again below at the helm of a mounted army charging through the gate to attack the Xin imperial troops, Wang Xun and his entourage shrouded in a green plume emanating from a double-gourd carried by a demon allied with the insurgents, the shoulder with quatrefoil cartouches enclosing scholar's objects reserved against a brocade ground, the neck with four officials on a balcony offering gifts to the Queen Mother of the West arriving on a cloud accompanied by a phoenix, coll. no. 1578.

The Jie Rui Tang Collection.

Provenance: Priestley & Ferraro, London, 2004.

Note: The painting on this vase depicts one of the turning points in the decline of Emperor Wang Mang’s Xin dynasty (9-23 C.E.) and the restoration of the Han dynasty. The decisive battle depicted at Kunyang City took place on July 7th, 23 C.E.

At Kunyang, Liu Xiu convinced the local rebels, known as Lülin (the Green Forest), to stay in the city and defend its walls against the massive army led by Wang Mang’s deputies Wang Xun and Wang Yi. As the Xin army laid siege to Kunyang, Liu Xiu covertly escaped and rallied thousands of sympathetic troops from neighboring counties. Upon their return, Liu led a small army through Kunyang’s gates to attack the Xin forces head-on while the additional Han soldiers ambushed Wang Xun’s army from all directions. Liu Xiu killed Wang Xun in the battle. As the surviving Xin troops fled, a flash flood erupted and drowned many. The Xin army was utterly defeated and did not recover from the events at Kunyang. Two years later, Liu Xiu successfully pacified remaining rebel groups, stabilized the Han empire, and ascended the throne as the Guangwu emperor.

In the present depiction, Liu Xiu leads the pack, charging on horseback with his blade raised to strike the final blow to his nemesis. Wang Xun, riding a Buddhist lion, attempts a hasty retreat. He and the beasts are enveloped in a speckled green cloud issuing from a double-gourd carried by a demon. This element adds a new dimension to the story, suggesting that mystical forces intervened on behalf of Liu Xiu to restore rightful rule.

The story of Liu Xiu’s victory at Kunyang may have had particular significance in the Kangxi period. Following the upheaval of dynastic change in the mid-17th century, the Kangxi emperor was responsible for solidifying and legitimizing Qing rule by suppressing rebellions within the empire and along its borders. This vase visually presents a parallel between his own efforts and those of a celebrated historic leader who unified the population and paved the way for two further centuries of dynastic continuity. The presence of the Goddess of Immortality at the neck of the vase, echoes the wish for (dynastic) perpetuity.

A famille-verte rouleau vase with this subject matter and a strikingly similar composition in the collection of The Taft Museum in Cincinnati, Ohio is illustrated in David T. Johnson, 'Narrative Themes on Kangxi Porcelains in the Taft Museum', Orientations, August 1993, fig. 3 (fig. 1). Another rouleau vase with this narrative, from the collection of Dr. Ip Yee, sold in our Hong Kong rooms, 19th November 1984, lot 224, and again in those rooms, 20th May 1986, lot 143. A slightly smaller yen yen vase featuring this episode on the body and a deity of immortality at the neck is in the collection of the Victoria and Albert Museum (coll.no. C.1276-1910).

Famille-Verte Vase, Taft Museum of Art, Cincinnati, Ohio. Bequest of Charles Phelps and Anna Sinton Taft. Courtesy of the Taft Museum of Art, Cincinnati, Ohio. Photography by Tony Walsh, Cincinnati, Ohio.

Vase, porcelain painted with overglaze enamels in the famille verte palette and gilded, China, Qing dynasty, Kangxi period (1662-1722). Height: 66 cm, Diameter: 27.9 cm. Salting Bequest, C.1276-1910 © Victoria and Albert Museum, London 2017.

Sotheby's. KANGXI: The Jie Rui Tang Collection, New York, 20 March 2018, 11:00 AM

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