A famille verte dish with dragon and phoenix motif, Qing dynasty, Kangxi (1662-1722).
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The central medallion is vigorously decorated with a large scaly dragon facing a long-tailed phoenix – both surrounded by stylised ruyi-shaped clouds and red flames. The rim is decorated with panels of auspicious animals – qilin, xiezhi, baize and winged deer – alternating with panels of flowers – peonies, lotus and chrysanthemum. In the centre of the glazed base - within a double circle – is a lozenge embellished with ribbons indicative of magic powers – one of the "Eight precious things". This is thought to have once been an ancient headdress symbolising victory or success. Diameter 36,7 cm.
Crack, repair.
Provenance
Purchased from Guest & Gray, London, March 2004.
The Avalon Collection.
This collection, which in the main focuses on the Interregnum and Kangxi periods has been both carefully and sensitively formed over the last twenty-five years. The collector, a member of the English Oriental Ceramic Society, has assembled the collection with an eye for provenance whilst purchasing from old European collections, well-established antique dealers and at auction.
Academically, the pieces have been well researched both in terms of their symbolism and narrative themes. In many instances the imagery on the pieces has been referenced to episodes in the romantic and historic novels of Chinese mythology, which were used extensively in the decoration of seventeenth century Chinese porcelain.
Literature
An identical dish is illustrated by Eva Strober in “Symbols on Chinese Porcelain”, No 18.
More information
It seems probable that the creature with the doglike head and body, paws and tail of a Buddhist lion is a xiezhi. This was considered to be an extremely fierce animal with the ability to distinguish between good and evil. In the same way the baize, with the head of a dragon, two horns and the body of a lion is distinct from the qilin, in that its scales only appear on the shoulders and flanks as opposed to its entire body.
A dragon together with a phoenix is indicative of a conjugal pairing and is still popular as a wedding motif. In the pairing, the dragon represents the yang force and the phoenix the ying – a representation often used for the emperor and empress.