Sold Ceramics - Sold Blue and White Kangxi Period 1662-1722 - Tea, Coffee and Chocolate wares -

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Object 2010547

Saucer

China

1700-1720

Height 16 mm (0.63 inch), diameter of rim 91 mm (3.58 inch), diameter of footring 55 mm (2.17 inch)

Saucer on footring, slightly everted rim. Decorated in underglaze blue with a military man with his servant holding a fan. Both stand near a pine tree looking at a farmer pushing his cart filled with goods. On one side rockwork and on the other a pine tree with clouds and the sun. Around the rim a zig-zag lines pattern border. The reverse is undecorated.

The scene on this saucer illustrates an episode from the famous Xi Xiang Ji, a comedy play in eight books by Wang Shifu (c.1250-1300) generally translated as the 'The story of the Western Chamber'. The story goes as follows. The talented but improvised student Zhang Sheng meets the beautiful Cui Yingying while she is staying with her mother and a maid in a monastery. The mother opposes a marriage but, thanks to Hongniang, the maid, a secret affair develops. When the mother detects this, she is furious. The lover is sent to the capital to seek literary success and after a while returns triumphant to claim his bride. Episodes from this story are the source of many of the figural decorations on porcelain of the 17th and 18th centuries. (Jörg & Van Campen 1997, p.158, cat. 172) 

The scene on this saucer  illustrates an episode from book six in which Zhang takes his farewell of Yingying and her maid Hongniang in order to travel to the capital, where he will be taking his public service exams. That is the condition set by Yingying's mother for her consent to their marrying. Zhang's sedan-chair stands ready while his servant prepares the luggage (the pile of scholary books). (Jörg 2011/2, p.101, Scene 20) 

Condition: Four tiny glaze fleabites and two glaze frits to the rim.

References:

Jörg & Van Campen 1997, p.158, cat. 172

Jörg 2011/2, p.101, Scene 20

Price: Sold.