A rare famille-verte 'carp' washer, Kangxi mark and period | 清康熙 五彩鯉躍龍門圖洗 《大清康熙年製》款

Private Collection, acquired before the 1980s, and thence by descent. 

來源

私人收藏，購於1980年代之前，此後家族傳承

Boldly potted with a clean and simple tapered form, this rare famille-verte washer represents the unique imperial taste and high quality of porcelain production of the Kangxi reign (1662-1722). Indeed, washers of this form are believed to date to the early part of that reign period. A related blue and white washer of the same form and with a six-character mark, but lacking the double circle, from the Shanghai Museum Collection is published in Kangxi Porcelain Wares from the Shanghai Museum Collection, Hong Kong, 1998, pl. 15.

The design on the present washer is extremely rare. The carp is rendered in an exceptionally naturalistic manner amid vivid turbulent waves. This imagery of the leaping carp refers to the proverb of the carp leaping over the Dragon Gate and turning into a dragon, an allusion to the student passing the imperial examinations to become a government official. A closely related example of the same form and a similar design sold at Christie's Hong Kong, 28th November 2005, lot 1374; and a famille-verte example sold at Christie's Hong Kong, 30th May 2006, lot 1426.

Two more Kangxi mark and period washers of similar size, but in lobed form, include one in the Shanghai Museum, published in op. cit., pl. 217; and one sold at Christie's London, 16th November 1999, lot 217.