Selected Meissen and Other Ceramics from the Collection of Henry H. Arnhold
Selected Meissen and Other Ceramics from the Collection of Henry H. Arnhold
Auction Closed
October 24, 05:26 PM GMT
Estimate
8,000 - 12,000 USD
Lot Details
Description
A PAIR OF CHINESE FAMILLE-VERTE 'MAGPIES AND PEONIES' LARGE DISHES QING DYNASTY, KANGXI PERIOD
清康熙 五彩花鳥庭院圖大盤兩件
each finely decorated in the center with a pair of magpies perched among blossoming peonies issuing from rockwork within a fenced garden, the rim with a trellis diaper ground reserved with panels painted with various 'precious objects', animals and plants, the base with a leaf mark within a double-circle.
Diameter: 14 in.
35.5 cm
The Delplace Collection
Christie's London, October 7th, 1974, lot 76
Ralph M. Chait Galleries, New York
Cohen & Cohen London, March, 2004
Cassidy-Geiger, 2008, no. 361a&b, p. 694-95, illus.
The magpie and peony are both very popular motifs in Chinese art for the rebuses they represent. Magpies, or Xique, are often described as ‘birds of joy', and often seen with other flowers to form auspicious visual puns, such as Xi Shang Mei Shao (magpies and prunus) representing 'may your joy reach up to the top of your eyebrows'. Peonies, known as Mudan or Fuguihua, represents wealth and honor. For further discussion on both rebuses, see Teresa Tse Bartholomew, Hidden Meanings in Chinese Art, San Francisco, 2006, p. 50 (Magpie) and p. 123 (Peonies).