68.
A ‘BLUE AND WHITE’ OVOID JAR AND COVER, GUAN
Qing dynasty, Kangxi period, late 17th–early 18th century
23,5 cm high
Apocryphal Da Ming Chenghua nianzhi six-character mark.
Provenance: Naples, Villa della Floridiana, Museo Duca di Martina,Placido de Sangro (1829-1891) collection.
inv. n. 3750.
The rounded sides rising to a short cylindrical neck surmounted by a domed cover, the exterior of the body painted in underglaze blue with a scene with four female figures in a landscape with rocks, fences, a banana tree and other plants, two seated ladies playing weiqi chess game while the other standing two are talking, the cover with some of the ‘Hundred Antiques’ (bogu).
Genre scenes with ladies in a garden engaging in leisure pursuits, such as the weiqi chess, reading, playing music and calligraphy, are in the repertory of Chinese ceramists already from the early Qing dynasty. The source for this kind of compositions could be found in a passage of “The Golden Thread Pond” (Jin xian chi) a play by Guan Hanqing (1240-1320) which told the love story between the courtesan Du Ruinang and the scholar Han Fuchen, who arranged a party to win the hostility of Du’s mother regarding their marriage.
