Famille Verte

Chinese famille verte biscuit porcelain joss-stick holder or water-dropper in the form of a standing boy holding a lingzhi branch to his right shoulder dressed in a green jacket and yellow skirt, his hair heightened in aubergine with clear glaze head, chest, arms and feet, all on a raised biscuit lotus-form stand.

Chinese famille verte, sancai, biscuit porcelain joss-stick holder modelled in the form of Budai seated beside a child holding a necklace above his raised right knee, their faces and his protruding stomach covered in a clear glaze all on a rug form base, the underside unglazed.

Chinese famille verte biscuit porcelain brush rest, bige, modelled as a curved five peak mountain moulded on the front with a fish rising among waves, the reverse with a qilin amongst plants, ingot and a coin, all on a green ground with aubergine and yellow glaze, the edge highlighted in yellow, the unglazed biscuit base slightly concave.

Chinese famille verte, sancai, biscuit porcelain water-dropper in the form of a fish leaping from a crested wave, the fish predominantly in an aubergine glaze, its tail in yellow, the waves and handle in a green glaze, the flat biscuit base unglazed.

Large Chinese famille verte biscuit porcelain sancai openwork fruit-form pyramid scroll weight, zhizhen, on a quatrefoil-lobed integral stand, with extensive fruit in green, yellow, aubergine and black glazes, amongst large vine leaves, all on an openwork rock form ground, the sancai splashed base with everted, green-glazed rim, the base unglazed.

Large pair of Chinese famille verte biscuit porcelain, sancai lotus-pod form pyramid scroll weights, zhizhen, each consisting of large lotus pods stacked amongst lotus leaves and branches with green glazed relief steepled flat ends and yellow glaze bodies, one with a small pod issuing from leaves at the top, all on quadrifoliate lobed integral stands splashed in yellow, green and aubergine, with a flat everted ridge edge and green rim, the bases unglazed.

Pair of Chinese famille verte, sancai, biscuit porcelain models of Buddhist lions, each on a raised rectangular plinth, the female with a puppy climbing at her front raised right leg, the male with an openwork reticulated brocade bowl with cash motif under his front left leg, the body with bright yellow and green glaze with detailed hairwork, the raised bases with splash glaze, the unglazed flat bases with traces of muslin from the firing, each base with a two character ink mark, gui mao, “elegant and good spirited”.

Chinese famille verte, sancai, biscuit porcelain moulded seated miniature figure of a bearded scholar wearing an official hat, holding a ruyi-sceptre on a raised base with stylised leaf form lappets, the flat base unglazed.

Chinese miniature famille verte biscuit porcelain seated model of a scholar holding a fan on a raised lotus leaf base, the flat base unglazed revealing the original muslin from the firing.

Pair of Chinese famille verte biscuit porcelain standing figures of Cao Guojiu holding an ingot, his hair tied up in two buns and a figure of He Xiangu holding a branch of lingzhi with a ruyi-head, each with a green jacket, yellow skirt and aubergine pierced rockwork raised bases, the detailed faces and hands with clear glaze.

Chinese famille verte biscuit porcelain water dropper, shuizhu, of a recumbent piebald horse on a green glazed leaf-form base, with head turned to the side beneath its long flowing segmented mane and forelock falling between the pricked ears, the front legs bent as if about to stand, covered on the body with dark brown enamel patches on a pale cream translucent ground, the back with open oval aperture, the tail and mane heightened in pale aubergine glaze, the bridle and hair to the small pastern heightened in yellow, the base unglazed.

A Chinese porcelain famille verte rectangular tea caddy and cover, painted with lotus leaves, flower-heads, aquatic plants and a rhizome, beneath iron-red insects in flight the reverse with flowering chrysanthemum, pierced rockwork with a butterfly and insects in flight, the two shorter sides each with flowering branches of morning glory, the shoulder with aster flowers, branches and rockwork, all the panels outlined with a green glazed frame and supported on four raised bracket feet, the cover with peony and camellia.

A set of three Chinese porcelain ko-akae, wucai, polychrome lozenge shape dishes with foliate flutted rims, each painted with a seated figure of Budai, resting against his long staff holding a necklace in his right hand and the edge of his treasure sack, beside the edge of rocky promontory with an overhanging pine tree beneath iron-red cloud within an iron-red border, the rim dressed brown. The base with a two characters mark of Taiping within a double rectangle,

Chinese porcelain famille verte large deep saucer dish painted in vivid bright and fresh enamels with Yingying resting on a wutong branch, with her hand placed under her qin, while her maid Hongniang points up at Zhang Sheng playing his qin at a balcony window, while his attendant crouches down, all in a elaborate scene at night beneath stars and a gilt moon, with another building in the distance amongst clouds, the garden below with willow, pine, rockwork and plantain, with a stone table set with a bonsai and a branch of flowering prunus, encircled by a border with eight reserves of precious objects including books, scrolls, ruyi-sceptre, rings, wrapped qin, horn, weiqi games board, counter holders and a branch of coral, mostly tied with ribbons, all dispersed between different geometric grounds, the base with an underglaze blue leaf mark within a double ring.

Pair of Chinese porcelain famille verte plates, each brightly and freshly painted with the young scholar scholar, Zhang, dressed in blue robes riding a yellow horse with his attendant close by, arriving at the walled monastery, the ground decorated with a table, scroll pot, censer, gu with flowers, further scrolls, books and a weiqi board, encircled by a ruyi-band, the flat everted rim with floral reserves in ruyi-head panels dispersed between ‘a hundred antiques’, bogu, including books, scrolls, censer, ruyi, wrapped qin, weiqi boards, all tied with ribbons, the underside with prunus and camellia flower sprays, the base with a ding vessel mark within a double ring in underglaze blue.

Chinese famille noire biscuit porcelain hexagonal openwork teapot and cover, the reticulated body modeled with six high-relief panels of the ‘Three Friends of Winter’, pine, prunus and bamboo, sanyou, above a moulded band of  iron red lotus petals, beneath a green ground flowerhead band at the shoulder, with ruyi-heads on cash and floral grounds in aubergine and yellow on a hexagonal faceted neck, the body with a rich black enamel ground between a fish form handle and a dragon headed hexagonal spout, the cover reticulated with a branch of flowering prunus with a blue enamel prunus finial.

Pair of Chinese porcelain famille verte, wucai biscuit table screens of rectangular form with chamfered corners, each with a figure standing on a riverbank in a mountainous river landscape scene with buildings and pine trees beneath a red sun, recessed within a yellow glazed border and surrounded by lotus flower reserves on a seed green ground, the reverse with bogu tu, ‘100 antiques’, books, censers, brush pots, vases of lotus flowers and peacock feathers, hanging lantern and a perch with a bird, within a recessed border surrounded by lotus flower reserves on a diaper ground.

A Chinese porcelain famille verte, wucai, brush pot, bitong, painted with three panels of Fuxing, the god of happiness, standing on a rocky promontory, holding a scroll and looking up at an iron-red bat in flight, beside overhanging rockwork; Luxing, the god of wealth, standing and holding up a gilt hu-tablet beside fencing and rockwork and beneath cloud scrolls and the sun; Kuixing, the god of examinations, standing on one leg on the head of a dragon fish emerging from crested waves while holding a brush in one hand and a bushel-measure in the other, his scantly clad torso with a large green ribbon and wearing gilt rings on his ankles, beside a small stack of books, all on an elaborate seed green ground with daisies, lotus, morning glory, prunus, hibiscus, tree peony and bamboo sprays above four clusters of ripe peaches, the foot, rim and interior glazed white, the base with unglazed wide band and recessed glazed centre.