Dish with hollyhocks and gardenias

Yongzhen (Yung Cheng) period, Polychrome –Guyuexuan (Ku Yueh Hsuan) type.
Shallow bowl with carved ivory stand. Polychrome.
White porcelain, decorated, in overglaze enamel colors, with flowers, calligraphy, and seals.

Historical period(s)
Qing dynasty, Yongzheng reign mark and period, 1723-1735
Medium
Porcelain with lead-silicate enamels over colorless clear glaze
Style
Jingdezhen ware
Dimensions
H x Diam (overall): 4.4 x 17.2 cm (1 3/4 x 6 3/4 in)
Geography
China, Jiangxi province, Jingdezhen
Credit Line
Purchase — Charles Lang Freer Endowment
Collection
Freer Gallery of Art Collection
Accession Number
F1928.3a-e
On View Location
Currently not on view
Classification(s)
Ceramic, Vessel
Type

Dish

Keywords
China, flower, Guyuexuan ware, porcelain, Qing dynasty (1644 - 1911)
Provenance

To 1928
Yamanaka & Co., New York. [1]

From 1928
Freer Gallery of Art, purchased from Yamanaka & Co., New York. [2]

Notes:

[1] Curatorial Remark 1 in the object record.

[2] See note 1.

Previous Owner(s) and Custodian(s)

Yamanaka and Co. 1917-1965

Description

Yongzhen (Yung Cheng) period, Polychrome --Guyuexuan (Ku Yueh Hsuan) type.
Shallow bowl with carved ivory stand. Polychrome.
White porcelain, decorated, in overglaze enamel colors, with flowers, calligraphy, and seals.

Marking(s)

Four-character mark of the Yung Cheng period (1723-1735) in overglaze blue enamel, under the base.

Label

During the Qing dynasty (1644-1911), emperors sometimes ordered court artists to decorate porcelains, a practice that intensified the aesthetic link between paintings and ceramics. The depiction of branches of cut flowers isolated from a garden environment is a conventional image for summer borrowed from handscroll paintings of the seasons. Chinese painters often inscribed their works with poetry. This dish also bears a poem, which begins: "On a beautiful day, the fragrant clusters display auspicious colors."

Published References
  • Hugh M. Moss. By Imperial Command: An Introduction to Ch'ing Imperial Painted Enamels. 2 vols., Hong Kong. vol. 1: pp. 75-77, pl. 60.
  • Yang Enlin. Chinesische Porzellanmalerei im 17. und 18. Jahrhundert. Munich. ill. 77.
  • B. A. Devere Bailey. The Old Moon Pavilion Ware. vol. 67, no. 393 London, December 1935. p. 267, pls. I, J.
Collection Area(s)
Chinese Art
Web Resources
Google Cultural Institute
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