169.
A PAIR OF ‘FAMILLE VERTE’ DISHES
Qing dynasty, Kangxi period, early 18th century
22 cm diam each
Provenance: Augustus the Strong (1670-1733); Naples, Villa della Floridiana, Museo Duca di Martina, Placido de Sangro (1829-1891) collection.
inv. nn. 3287, 3289.
Both the dishes have the black ink inscription “N°: 55” referring to the inventory of the collection of Augustus the Strong; a lingzhi fungus inside two concentric circles to the centre of the base.
The term bogu, usually translated in English as “Hundred antiquities”, refers to a very popular decorative motif which includes an unspecified number of objects of various types (vases, books, censers, but also flowers, miniaturized trees, and so on), each characterized by a particular symbolism, most of them in some ways related to antiques.
This pattern came to be used during the Northern Song dynasty, and could be related to the spread of the collectionism of ancient pre-dynastic bronzes, favoured by literati and aristocrats, and among them in particular by emperor Huizong who in 1123 commissioned to Wang Fu an illustrated catalogue of his collection, the “Drawings and Lists of all the Antiquities stored in the Xuanhe Palace” (Chongxiu Xuanhe bogu tulu), a title which contain the same term bogu.
A dish with a very similar decoration is in the British Museum in London (inv. n. Franks.411).
