Footnotes

Please note this Lot is to be sold at No Reserve. 本拍品不設底價

清康熙 五彩耕織圖盤
「木石居」印

Provenance: acquired from R & G McPherson Antiques, London, on 19 April 2011 (collector's notes)

Published, Illustrated and Exhibited: The Oriental Ceramic Society, China Without Dragons: Rare Pieces from Oriental Ceramic Society Members, London, 2016, p.314, no. 186
M.White, Eating at the Whites' House: Ceramics from the Mary and Peter White Collection, vol.3, n.p, 2022, p.82
M.White, People at the Whites' House: Ceramics from the Mary and Peter White Collection, vol.5, n.p, 2024, p.302

來源：獲得於倫敦古董商R & G McPherson Antiques，2011年4月19日（藏家筆記）

展覽著錄：東方陶瓷學會，《龍隱：英國東方陶瓷學會會員珍稀藏品展圖錄》，倫敦，2016年，第314頁，編號186
M.White，《Eating at the Whites' House: Ceramics from the Mary and Peter White Collection》，第三冊，無出版地，2022年，第82頁
M.White，《People at the Whites' House: Ceramics from the Mary and Peter White Collection》，第五冊，無出版地，2024年，第302頁

The inscription on the plate reads:

持穗 霜時天氣佳，風勁木葉脫。持穗及此時，連枷聲亂發。黃雞啄遺粒，烏鳥喜聒聒。歸家抖塵埃，夜屋燒榾柮。

Which may be translated as:

Holding the Grain. The weather is clear in the season of frost; the strong wind strips the leaves from the trees. In hand, harvested grain is gathered, while the steady clatter of the flail rings out. Yellow hens peck at the scattered kernels; blackbirds call out in cheerful tones. Returning home, I shake off the dust; by night, firewood burns within the cottage.

The Gengzhi Tu (Pictures of Tilling and Weaving) originated during the Song dynasty and was first compiled by Lou Shou (1090–1162). The earliest known edition was published around 1237 and consisted of 45 illustrations; 21 scenes of tilling and 24 of weaving and silk production, each accompanied by a poem. While the images served as practical guides to agriculture and sericulture, they were also rich in Confucian symbolism, representing the harmony of a well-ordered society rooted in the moral and physical labour of its people.

The best-known version of the Gengzhi Tu was commissioned by the Kangxi Emperor in 1696 and is commonly referred to as the Yuzhi (Imperial) Gengzhi Tu. The Kangxi Emperor composed the preface himself, printed in ochre-brown ink, and the illustrations were engraved by the Court artisan Zhu Gui after designs by Jiao Bingzhen. Jiao was a Court painter and astronomer who had studied Western perspective under Jesuit missionary-artists, and his works reflect a unique fusion of Chinese literati aesthetics and European techniques. Each woodblock is paired with a quatrain in seven-character verse. While traditionally attributed to Kangxi, these poems are now thought to have been composed by Court scholars in imitation of the Emperor's handwriting and poetic style.

The 46 scenes vividly portray the agricultural rhythms of Qing society, from ploughing and rice planting to the raising of silkworms and weaving of cloth. Kangxi's motives for producing the work were complex: part homage to successful dynasties of the past, part legitimisation of Manchu rule, and part expression of genuine admiration for the agrarian foundations of his Empire. A tireless traveller and keen observer, Kangxi took deep interest in the daily lives of his subjects, from their hours of labour to their living conditions. The Gengzhi Tu was, in many ways, a tangible reflection of this concern. For Jiao Bingzhen's illustrated version of the Gengzhi Tu, see Emperor Kangxi and the Sun King Louis XIV, Taipei, 2011, no.1B-14.

Despite its Imperial origins, porcelain inspired by the Gengzhi Tu appears to have been made for the domestic Chinese market. While superbly painted, these wares generally lack Imperial marks and were likely intended for connoisseurs who appreciated the moral, poetic, and technical sophistication of the imagery.

See a related dish, Kangxi, in the Victoria and Albert Museum, London, depicting a sericulture scene, illustrated in Ceramic Art of the World, vol.15, Tokyo, 1983, pl.172. For a related dish in the Musée National des Arts Asiatiques–Guimet, Paris, with a sericulture scene, see Kangxi: Empereur de Chine, 1662–1722, Paris, 2004, no.65.

Compare with a related famille verte 'rice production' dish, Kangxi, which was sold at Christie's New York, 15 September 2017, lot 1194.