A PALE-GREEN GLAZED ANHUA-DECORATED BRUSHPOT, BITONG

Circa 1640-1650

Footnotes

約1640年至1650年間 青釉暗花花蝶紋筆筒

Provenance: Eileen Lesouëf, France
Ben Janssens Oriental Art, London, 17 June 1999

Published, Illustrated and Exhibited: Ben Janssens Oriental Art, Seventeenth Century Blue and White Porcelain from the Private Collection of Eileen Lesouëf, London, 1999, no.44
S.Marsh, Brushpots: A Collector's View, Hong Kong, 2020, pp.170-171

來源：Eileen Lesouëf，法國
倫敦古董商 Ben Janssens Oriental Art，1999年6月17日

錄著：Ben Janssens Oriental Art, 《Seventeenth Century Blue and White Porcelain from the Private Collection of Eileen Lesouëf》，倫敦，1999年，44號
S.Marsh，《Brushpots: A Collector's View》，香港，2020年，頁170-171

The anhua or 'hidden' design on the body is of butterflies (hudie) and tree peonies (fuguihua), which is a rebus for 'May you have an abundance of high status and wealth' (Fu die fu gui).

The present lot is covered in a thin, transparent, pale greenish, high-fired glaze. This glaze is very similar in colour to Northern Song dynasty (960-1127) qingbai glazes, which found favour at the Song Court for their elegance and simplicity. Later generations too admired qingbai glazes and the references to the elegance of the Song dynasty.

However, while hinting at archaism, the present lot also is very much of its period. The incised borders are typical of 'Transitional' era vessels that reflect scholar's tastes for scrolls and albums with borders. Above and below the design are borders bounded by double lines. The upper border is a gently undulating floral vine and the bottom border is a waves and foam pattern. These incised borders were time-consuming to make as they required the clay to be neither too hard nor too soft. Thus, by the Kangxi period, they were replaced by a fashion for painted borders. Compare the incised zigzag wave border and dense foliate border on a blue and white brushpot, Chongzhen, in the Shanghai Museum, illustrated in Seventeenth Century Jingdezhen Porcelain from the Shanghai Museum and the Butler Collections, Shanghai, 2005, no.19.

See also a very rare white-glazed anhua decorated bell, circa 1640, which was sold at Bonhams Hong Kong, 1 December 2020, lot 16.