M4191

Chinese porcelain famille verte bottle vase with tall cylindrical neck and lipped rim, painted on the body with eight lappets, enclosing open-winged butterflies amongst prunus, peony, lotus, pinks, chrysanthemum and aster on a seed-green ground and four with large chrysanthemum flower heads which suspend different stylised lanterns enclosing a horse, bird and prunus, a sage and a bird and magnolia, all on geometric iron-red cross-hatch grounds, between further pendants of precious objects and lotus bud branches, the shoulder with bands of ruyi, keyfret, diaper and lotus petals, the neck with branches of lotus flowers beneath pendant tassels and jewels and a keyfret band at the rim, the base glazed white.

16 ½ inches, 41.9 cm high.

Kangxi, circa 1690.

Wood stand.

Chinese porcelain dated famille verte brushpot, bitong, painted with a scholar seated in the front of a fishing boat looking up at overhanging rockwork, and seated beside a tiered box with an upright handle and a wine jar, being steered by a fisherman holding the rudder, beneath long branches of overhanging pine, with a mountain range, migrating birds and the moon amongst iron-red clouds, within an underglaze blue double-line rectangular frame with chamfered corners. The reverse with a fifty-six character poem in dedication to the Red Cliff, with the date, renchen year, corresponding to 1712, second month of the summer, Wenyuan Yuan qing fu, signed by Xiuyuan, round seal and square seal, mushi ju.

7 5/8 inches, 19.3 cm diameter.

Kangxi, 1712.

Pair of Chinese porcelain famille verte, wucai dated vases of meiping form, each painted with a scene of a provincial governor being reassigned and departing to his assigned post. In the first scene, two local bearded dignitaries kneel in front of the governor and present a gilt jue containing wine and a new pair of boots for him to take with him as he moves on, leaving behind an old pair symbolising his enduring affection for the local people; on the companion vase, the governor is kneeling while another official reads an imperial edict probably with his reassignment instruction, both in continuous interior scenes in front of mountains and crested wave screens, the reverse with rockwork and wutong, beneath a band of chilong dragons at the shoulder, flowerheads, triangular lappets and jewels on the gently flared neck and above a band of prunus flowerheads and leaves on the splayed foot.

12 inches, 30.5 cm high.

The bases with four-character marks, xinsi nian zhi, in underglaze blue within a double ring and of the period, corresponding to the xinsi year, 1701.