52.
A WUCAI ENAMELLED ‘EIGHT IMMORTALS’ BOWL
Qing dynasty, Shunzhi period, circa 1650-1660
14 x 34,2 cm
Yutang Jiaqi four-character mark.
Provenance: Naples, Villa della Floridiana, Museo Duca di Martina, Placido de Sangro, (1829-1891) collection.
Inv. n. 3902.
The bowl is decorated in the wucai palette, the exterior with the Eight Daoist Immortals and Shoulao, the God of Longevity seated on a promontory beside a deer and an incense burner with a whist of smoke in the form of a stylised shou (“longevity”) character, all amidst rockwork, grass and pine in a fenced garden. The interior with a central medallion enclosing a landscape scene. The mark Yutang Jiaqi may be translated as “Fine vessel for the Jade Hall”. It doesn’t identify a specific place but instead refers to the quality of the vessel. It was used from the Jiajing period until the early Kangxi period.
A similar wucai bowl, bearing the same mark, from the Butler Family Collection, is illustrated in M. Butler – J.B. Curtis – S. Little, (edited by) Shunzhi Porcelain. Treasures from an Unknown Reign 1644-1661, exhibition catalogue, Alexandria (Virginia) 2002, pp. 222-223, n. 74, and see also pp. 224-225, nn. 75-76, for a wucai and a ‘blue and white’ dish, Yutang Jiaqi marks, with similar decoration.
