Edward Luper
Specialist, Chinese Works of Art
Property from a distinguished Belgian Collection 顯貴比利時私人藏品
Lot 42
A blue and white 'Romance of the West Chamber' bowl Chenghua six-character mark, Kangxi
12 May 2016, 10:30 BST
London, New Bond StreetSold for £10,000 inc. premium
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A blue and white 'Romance of the West Chamber' bowl
Chenghua six-character mark, Kangxi
Finely painted in vivid underglaze blue with a continuous scene of three ladies within a walled pavilion visible from a large circular window, under the plantain leaves two men by the wall look across to a military general brandishing a halberd on horseback followed by an attendant carrying a flag, in the distance a tent with banners and spears, the interior painted with a languid scholar leaning on a bundle of scrolls, gazing into the distant landscape beneath wispy clouds. 19.3cm (7 5/8in) diam.
Finely painted in vivid underglaze blue with a continuous scene of three ladies within a walled pavilion visible from a large circular window, under the plantain leaves two men by the wall look across to a military general brandishing a halberd on horseback followed by an attendant carrying a flag, in the distance a tent with banners and spears, the interior painted with a languid scholar leaning on a bundle of scrolls, gazing into the distant landscape beneath wispy clouds. 19.3cm (7 5/8in) diam.
Footnotes
清康熙 青花西廂記圖盌
青花「大明成化年製」楷書款
Provenance: a distinguished Belgian private collection
來源： 顯貴比利時私人收藏
On the exterior is an inscription which reads:
孤孀子母無投奔,
赤緊的先亡過了我有福之人。
耳邊金鼓連天震
This may be translated as:
'Orphan and widow, child and mother, we've nowhere to flee.
Truly, he who passed away first turned out to be the lucky one!
Within earshot, gongs and drums quake to the heavens.'
The scene is from the 'Romance of the West Chamber' (Xixiang ji 西廂記), vol II, act I. In the play, as depicted on the present bowl, the bandit Flying Tiger Sun sealed off the temple gate with five thousand troops in attempt to capture the beautiful lady Yingying trapped inside. Yingying's mother agreed that whoever could defeat and drive away the bandit general could have Yingying's hand in marriage. The hero, scholar Zhang Sheng, manages to get help from General Du and the bandits were forced to retreat. See S.West and W.Idema, The Story of the Western Wing, Berkeley, 1995, p.153.
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