Lot 58 A fine and rare Chinese famille verte 'Kingfisher' dish

A fine and rare Chinese famille verte 'Kingfisher' dish

Kangxi

未知

€ 15.000 – € 25.000

O: H. 3,9 cm, Diam. 27,4 cm

Normal superficial wear and spots of glaze loss, mostly to the reverse. Four restored chips to the rim, visible to the reverse, located at 11, 12 and 2 o'clock.

Finely potted with shallow rounded sides rising to a gently everted rim, superbly painted in the famille verte palette with a kingfisher grasping the branch of a water reed while peering into a lotus pond. The bird is shown beside flowering lotus blooms painted in iron-red, gilt and blue enamels, with large lotus leaves displaying finely delineated veins and turned-over edges. A cricket perches on the edge of one of the leaves, while insects fly beneath a gilt moon.
The broad rim is decorated with a lozenge diaper ground heightened with black enamel, interrupted by four shaped reserves enclosing pairs of crabs, swallows, quails and cranes, alternating with large iron-red peony blossoms. The reverse is painted with a continuous river landscape populated by fishing boats, figures standing on rocky promontories and pavilions overlooking the water.
盤敞口，淺弧壁，口沿微撇。盤心以五彩繪翠鳥荷塘圖，一隻翠鳥攀附於水草枝梗之上，俯首凝視荷塘。旁繪盛放的荷花，以礬紅、金彩及藍彩描繪，碩大荷葉葉脈刻畫細緻，葉緣翻卷。一隻蟋蟀棲於荷葉邊緣，飛蟲則盤旋於金彩明月之下。
寬折沿以黑彩菱格錦地為飾，間設四組異形開光，分別繪成對螃蟹、燕子、鵪鶉及仙鶴，並與大朵礬紅牡丹相間排列。外壁通景繪江岸山水，漁舟泛於水面，人物立於嶙峋岸石之上，亭台樓閣臨水而建。
Reference:
For a similar dish in the collection of August the Strong, see Eva Ströber: 'La Maladie de Porcelaine', 2001, pp. 72/73, no. 29. A related example is illustrated by E. Zimmermann, 'Chinesisches Porzellan und die Ubrigen Keramischen Erzeugnisse Chinas', pl. 108.
Provenance:
The van Ouwerkerk collection, Switzerland.
S. Marchant & Son, London, with their label to the reverse.
The Mr. and Mrs. Baert-Devos Collection, Belgium. Acquired from the above on 15 June 2006, accompanied by a copy of their original invoice. (see added scan)
Exhibited and illustrated:
S. Marchant & Son, London, included in their 2006 exhibition of 'Recent Acquisitions', and illustrated in the accompanying catalogue, pp. 40-41, no. 22. Also illustrated in their 2025 publication 'One Hundred Years', Vol. II, p. 121, no. 1205.