A fine blue-ground famille-rose 'boys' vase, Qing dynasty, Daoguang period

Private Collection, acquired in New York in 1958.

Sotheby's New York, 15th September 2010, lot 263. 

Vibrantly painted with a charming scene of boys at play, this elaborate vase belongs to a select group of porcelain wares made during the Daoguang reign to furnish his newly built Shendetang (Hall of Prudent Virtue). Part of the Jizhou Qingyan palace complex in the Yuanming Yuan, the Shendetang was completed in 1831, and became the Emperor’s preferred residence. Featuring three connecting wave roofs on a square-shaped structure, the hall was markedly different from the more characteristic Confucian-inspired architecture, a feature that was reflected in the style of porcelain that was lavishly produced for it. This special group of wares are attributable to two decades between 1831 and 1850 and are often characterized by novel and lavish designs, as seen with the present vase.

The present vase is painted with four lively scenes depicting boys at play: chasing butterflies, playing with prunus branches, holding a ruyi scepter up, and carrying vases together. This motif, often referred to as the ‘Hundred Boys’ (baizi) appears to trace its origins to the Song dynasty and is understood to reference fabled sons of King Wen – the legendary father of King Wu of Zhou – who had ninety-nine sons and adopted one more to make one hundred. By the Ming dynasty, this motif had come to represent the wish for many sons, and was reproduced on a variety of media, adopted and adapted throughout the ages with ever more creative and idyllic designs. The present portrayal, rendering the boys with dynamism and vigour framed in a serene backdrop, speaks to the artistic flair of the Qing artisan, while the vase’s even pale-blue ground and exquisite famille-rose enamels work in union to exude a sense of elegance; a testament to the potter’s technical mastery. 

For similar handled vases, compare a closely related example, also of Shendetang mark, featuring a continuous scene of figures racing dragon boats against a bright-blue ground, illustrated in Porcelains with Inscription of Shendetang Collected by the Palace Museum, Beijing, 2014, pp 204-207; two painted with a continuous scene of boys setting off firecrackers in celebration of Chinese New Year sold in these rooms, 28th November 1994, lot 382 and 383, the first with yellow and turquoise-ground flower-scroll borders, and the second with a pink ground and elaborate dragon handles; another pair of pink-ground Shendetang vases sold in our Hong Kong rooms, 29th-30th November 2018, lot 430; and another vase, with a Daoguang reign mark and of the period, sold from the collection of Edward T. Chow, in our Hong Kong rooms, 19th May 1981, lot 597.