Famille Rose

Chinese imperial porcelain doucai and famille rose enamelled conical floral medallion bowl, wan, painted on the exterior with four blossoming flower medallions of peony, lotus, chrysanthemum and prunus, representing the four seasons, the branches and leaves forming the roundel, all between stylised green-glazed branches with buds and lotus petals, beneath two underglaze blue lines at the rim repeated on the foot. The well of the interior with a double butterfly medallion and a prunus flower spray, circled by two pairs of underglaze blue double lines.

Pair of Chinese porcelain semi-eggshell famille rose openwork hexagonal lanterns, each section reticulated in different openwork designs, having in the centre a circular medallion enclosing different figures in various pursuits, the collar and receding foot also with reticulated centres with pink enamel. 34.8 cm high. Yongzheng, 1723-1735.

A large and impressive Chinese porcelain famille rose-verte charger, painted with a scene from the “Dream of the Red Chamber” with Lin Daiyu being introduced to her new tutor Jia Yucun by her father Lin Ruhai, within an elaborately decorated pavilion with draped curtains and tables with various ornaments and flowers, the foreground set with pierced garden rocks and flowering shrubs all beneath a prunus tree amongst iron-red, gilt, yellow and blue clouds, all within a gilt and iron-iron floral and diaper border amongst four leaf-shaped panels depicting elegant reclining ladies, the underside glazed white.

A pair of Chinese porcelain taperstick holders in the form of standing models of elegant nodding ladies holding a fluted baluster vase, each with a black enamel ground long jacket with iron-red sleeves and gilt floral medallions, tied at the waist with a turquoise bow above their lemon-yellow enamel pleated skirts revealing the tip of a foot, each on an integral moulded square raised base with flowerheads and iron-red and washed salmon-pink borders, the bases unglazed.

Pair of Chinese imperial porcelain famille rose enamelled conical flower-form bowls and covers, gai wan, with six petals, painted with pairs of sky-blue and turquoise enamelled five-clawed dragons with open mouths in pursuit of yellow and iron-red flaming pearls amongst ruyi-clouds and flames above crested and foaming waves, repeated on the rims of the covers.

Chinese imperial porcelain ruby ground famille rose enamelled vase, feng er ping, with light blue and dark blue enamelled outlined openwork phoenix handles, decorated on each side with the Eight Daoist Emblems, anbaxian on a rich and even ruby-red enamel ground above a lappet band with ruyi-head terminals and a leaf band on a gently splayed foot, all beneath a yellow ground band of ruyi-heads at the gilt rim, the interior and base lined with turquoise enamel.

Chinese porcelain famille rose rounded pocket snuff bottle, painted on each side with a large pink peony amongst flowerheads in yellow and blue, with branches, buds and leaves in green and white, all on a black ground with an underglaze blue ruyi-head cloud band beneath the gilt rim, the flat rim unglazed.

Pair of Chinese imperial porcelain famille rose, fencai, lobed jardinieres on five ruyi-head feet, the body decorated with gilt circular shou-character medallions amongst iron red bats in flight and blue enamel wan-characters, all heightened in gilt on a rich lemon yellow ground, the flat slightly lipped rim with flowerheads on a lime green ground, the interior and base with turquoise enamel lining.

Chinese imperial porcelain large dish, brightly painted in famille rose, fencai enamels with bajixiang, the eight auspicious emblems, each ribbon tied and amongst eight different flowering branches in pink, blue, light blue, turquoise green, iron red, gilt, yellow, white and lime green enamels encircling a stylised central flowerhead with interlinked other flowers, all within a double gilt border, the rim with a wide band of pink ruyi-heads on a lemon yellow ground, the underside with three different flower sprays each on a leafy branch with other flowers and leaves.

Chinese imperial porcelain fencai large thickly potted dish, finely painted with five-clawed iron-red and blue dragon on each side of a flaming gilt pearl, all amongst stylised ruyi-clouds and flames within a wide gilt band, the underside with an aubergine dragon and another iron-red dragon with two pearls amongst stylised clouds and flames.

A very large Chinese imperial porcelain “hundred bats”, baifu, charger painted with iron-red bats in flight amongst fencai stylised ruyi-head clouds in purple, turquoise, blue and yellow enamels, all within a gilt band at the rim, the underside similarly decorated above a gilt band at the foot and beneath an iron-red line at the rim.

A pair of Chinese porcelain famille rose square dishes painted with the Yang family lady equestrians, each on a different coloured horse, riding through an archway and a vine-covered arbour, while three gentlemen look on from a terrace, the raised rim decorated in the corners with books and scrolls in iron-red and gilt, tied with ribbons on octagonal pink diaper ground with flowerheads, the bases unglazed.

Pair of Chinese porcelain famille rose, fencai, square tapered vases and stands, painted on the facets with eight different scenes, comprised of a General in conversation with two dignitaries at a city wall, three ladies beside a table, a young couple with a child, and a lady and gentleman walking beside a fence, the other vase with two smiling men dancing, holding fans meeting a young figure with a sword tied to his back, a monk seated on a mat beside a lady and attendant, a scholar in landscape with attendant and boy and a couple on either side of a long table, all beneath the sloping shoulders, with pink flowerheads and leaves on a lemon yellow ground, beneath butterflies on the neck and a crenulated band on the flat square rim, the stands decorated with a turquoise and yellow enamelled ground with stylised flowers and a triangular iron-red diaper on the flat rim.

Famille rose figural group of a seated Chinese man drinking beside a lady with his arm on her shoulder, both on a naturalist pierced rockwork plinth, the man’s blue-enamelled unbuttoned tunic incised with ruyi-clouds, also wearing iron-red breeches and black enamelled boots, the lady with her right hand raised to her mouth, wearing a yellow jacket with landscape panels and a blue dress with a leg and bound foot revealed, her hair tied and pinned in a high chignon.

Famille rose and grisaille eggshell soup plate, painted in the centre with a mountainous river-landscape scene with a tall pagoda in the distance and a gated village in the foreground with a figure and his attendant between two horses, another figure crossing a bridge with a fisherman sitting in his boat beside his raised fishing rod, all amongst delicately painted rockwork, trees and houses, beneath a wide gilt floral leafy continuous branch in the cavetto, the flat everted rim with three peony sprays in leaf-shape reserves, besides white and pink chrysanthemum on a pink diaper ground and a gilt diaper band at the rim.

A pair of Chinese porcelain famille rose two-handled ice buckets of fluted form with foliate rims, painted on each side with a tied bouquet of peony, camellia, chrysanthemum, rose and pink, amongst smaller flowers and foliage on a flower spray ground, the handles decorated with iron-red and gilt highly stylised dragons, the everted foot rim with iron-red, gilt and puce prunus flower heads, the foliate rim with original gilding.