A fine doucai 'magpie and prunus' conical bowl, Mark and period of Yongzheng | 清雍正 鬪彩喜上眉梢圖笠式盌 《大清雍正年製》款

Nagatani, Inc., Chicago, 1st November 1946.

Collection of Stephen Junkunc III (d. 1978).

Christie's New York, 21st September 1995, lot 257.

Nagatani，芝加哥，1946年11月1日

史蒂芬•瓊肯三世收藏 (1978年逝)

紐約佳士得1995年9月21日，編號257

Exquisitely painted with two magpies, flowering camellia and prunus branches, this present bowl embodies the Yongzheng Emperor's great passion for exacting designs and innovative shapes, insistence on outstanding quality and his advocacy of portents of good fortune. The precision of the cobalt penciled lines, which give texture to the birds and trees, and the harmonious arrangement of the motif reveal the craftsmen's mastery of techniques and materials as a direct result of the Emperor's personal patronage. 

A bowl and cover of this type in the Shanghai Museum, Shanghai, is illustrated in Lu Minghua, Qingdai Yongzheng – Xuantong guanyao ciqi [Qing dynasty official wares from the Yongzheng to the Xuantong reigns], Shanghai, 2014, pl. 3-20, where the author mentions two further examples in the Shanghai Museum, but one lacking its cover, p. 46; another in the Palace Museum, Beijing, is published in The Complete Collection of Treasures of the Palace Museum. Porcelains in Polychrome and Contrasting Colours, Hong Kong, 1999, pl. 223; and a third, in the British Museum, London, is illustrated in R.L. Hobson, The Later Ceramic Wares of China, London, 1925, pl. LV, fig. 1. See also a bowl with cover sold in our London rooms, 1st November 1966, lot 127; and another from the Pilkington Collection sold in our Hong Kong rooms, 5th April 2016, lot 55. 

The design on this piece is filled with auspicious symbolism. The magpie (xique) is known as the bird of joy, as its name is homophonous with the word for joy (xi), as well as a carrier of good omen. In the 18th century, this bird acquired great significance, as according to legend the founder of the Manchu dynasty was the son of a celestial maiden who became pregnant after consuming a red berry that a magpie had dropped on her robe.