An extremely rare and large wucai 'Eight Immortals' bowl Six-character Kangxi mark and of the period
381
Various Owners
An extremely rare and large wucai 'Eight Immortals' bowl
Kangxi six-character mark and of the period
The exterior decorated in red and green enamel and underglaze blue with Shoulao and the Eight Daoist Immortals, each holding their respective attribute, standing on a undulating ground amidst pine and bamboo, the interior decorated in the well with a scholar walking towards a tree in a mountainous river landscape.
35.1cm (13⅞in) diam.
Sold for £21,600 inc. premium

Footnotes

  • The wucai palette on the present bowl, as well as decorative features such as the V-shaped grass or leaves, are characteristic of wares that on stylistic basis would usually have been attributed to the Shunzhi period. However, the Kangxi six-character mark, painted in bold underglaze blue, clearly dates this bowl to the following reign. Therefore, we can with great certainty attribute this rare example to the first years of the the long Kangxi reign. This bowl is not only a rare example but also provides an important tool in dating comparable unmarked pieces. See for example a wucai-decorated bowl of similar dimensions and design, but with a Yu tang jia qi mark, from the Butler Family collection, attributed to the Shunzhi period, illustrated by A. White, Chen Xiejun and Wang Qingzheng, eds., Seventeenth Century Jingdezhen Porcelain from the Shanghai Museum and the Butler Collections, Shanghai, 2005, pl.59.

Category: Asian Art / Chinese Works of Art

Auction terms and conditions

Contacts

Asaph Hyman Bonhams
Work
101 New Bond Street
London, W1S 1SR
United Kingdom
Work +44 20 7468 5888
FaxFax: +44 20 7495 5251
Specialist - Chinese Works of Art