A fine small blue and white ‘butterfly’ dish, Mark and period of Yongzheng | 清雍正　青花蝶戀花圖小盤　《 大清雍正年製》款

Collection of Xu Hanqing (1882-1961).

Important Chinese Porcelain from Private Collections, Marchant, 2012, cat. no. 23.

Delicately potted and finely painted in a luminous underglaze-blue palette, the present saucer is an understated gem from the kilns of the Yongzheng Emperor. The design depicts butterflies mingling among flowers, intimately connected to the world around them, and forms a well-known rebus (dielianhua) symbolizing joy, love and good fortune.

To date, only one other dish of this size and design appears to be recorded, included in Exhibition of Qing Mark and Period Blue and White, S. Marchant & Son, London, 1984, cat no. 19. For a closely related example of larger proportions, compare a Yongzheng dish featuring a very similar butterfly design preserved in the Nanjing Museum, illustrated in The Official Kiln Porcelain of the Chinese Qing Dynasty, Shanghai, 2003, pl. 149; as well as another dish of this larger size with added doucai enamels, from the collection of Mary Jane Morgan (1823–1885), sold most recently in our rooms, 8th October 2019, lot 3619.

Xu Fubing (1882-1961), known by the scholar’s name Xu Hanqing, was born in Shandong province and appointed to head the Department of Justice at just seventeen years old. After the establishment of the Republic of China, Xu served as deputy director of The Bank of China’s Nanjing branch and later became general manager of Continental Bank in 1933. Aside from his preeminence in the world of banking, Xu was a lifelong collector of Chinese art with a particular focus on beautiful pieces of scholarly interest.

來源

許漢卿（1882-1961年）收藏

展覽

《Important Chinese Porcelain from Private Collections》，馬錢特，2012年，編號23

此小盤形制精雅，紋飾柔麗，為雍正御窰巧珍。青花繪蝶舞花間，花與蝶渾然相協，乃成「蝶戀花」，祝頌喜悅、繾綣及福運。

存世例中，僅見一件尺寸、紋飾皆與此相類，展於《Exhibition of Qing Mark and Period Blue and White》，馬錢特，倫敦，1984年，編號19。可比二例，尺寸較大，其一紋飾極似，藏南京博物院，錄《宮廷珍藏：中國清代官窰瓷器》，上海，2003年，圖版149；其二以鬪彩作，Mary Jane Morgan夫人（1823-1885年）舊藏，經數度遞藏後售於香港蘇富比2019年10月8日，編號3619。

許福眪（1882-1961年），字漢卿，生於山東省，十七歲時由清政府授命任刑部主事，後獲派充濟南大清銀行稽核委員；民國初年又出任中國銀行南京分行副行長，並於1933年繼任大陸銀行總經理。仕途之外，許漢卿亦熱衷中國藝術，文玩書畫收藏浩瀚。