242.
A ‘FAMILLE ROSE’ DISH
Qing dynasty, Yongzheng period
35,8 cm diam
Provenance: Naples, Villa della Floridiana, Museo Duca di Martina, Placido de Sangro (1829-1891) collection.
inv. n. 3997
Literally the “Hemp Lady”, Magu – in this dish depicted standing with a lingzhi fungus in her right hand, a fawn on her right side, a young boy holding a basket with peaches following her, the scene placed in a natural scenery with rocks, bamboos and a blossoming prunus – is a very popular goddess of the Daoist pantheon, famous for her beauty and for her elixir of longevity, the two main reasons because objects decorated with her portrait were appreciated by women in special occasion such as important wedding anniversaries.
A dish with a very similar decoration is in the Porzellansammlung, Dresden, from the collection of August the Strong (1670-1733), probably acquired in 1727 (E. Ströber, «La maladie de porcelaine». East Asian Porcelain from the Collection of Augustus the Strong, Leipzig 2001, p. 78, n. 32); see also the comparable piece in the Museum Boymans-van Beuningen (C.J.A. Jörg, Oriental Porcelain. A Choice from the Boymans-van Beuningen Museum Collection, Rotterdam 1995, n. 25) and the similar dish in the Fitzwilliam Museum, Cambridge (inv. n. C.85-1912).
