£8,000 - £12,000
A LARGE BLUE AND WHITE BITONG
KANGXI PERIOD (1662-1722)
康熙青花人物故事紋筆筒
of cylindrical form and with slightly concave sides rising from a slightly concave base with a small countersunk center. Deftly painted around the outside in shades of vibrant cobalt blue with a continuous scene depicting a seated dignitary receiving three scholars, flanked by a soldier and an attendant bearing a sword - all set in an open pavilion.
18.5cm high
NOTE: The scene is known as jia guan jin jue, meaning 'promotion to a high rank'. Here the seated dignitary receives three decorated scholars. Each scholar in turn presents a jue wine cup, an officials boot, and a wine ewer. The word jue for wine cup is the same as the word jue in jin jue, meaning promotion through the official ranks, and cleverly plays on the double meaning in which a verbal blessing is depicted in visual form.
PROVENANCE: Acquired from Christie's “The Cowdray Sale: Works of Art from Cowdray Park and Dunecht House, at Cowdray Park, West Sussex”, 16 September 2011, Lot 985; Formerly from The Weetman Dickinson Pearson Collection, 1st Viscount Cowdray (1856 - 1927).
Weetman Dickinson Pearson was an industrialist and owner of the Pearson conglomerate, Liberal MP for Colchester and keen philanthropist. His business extended to South America, where he was central to the expansion of Mexico City whilst undertaking other major works in Ecuador and Colombia. His other business projects included the Blackwall Tunnel and East River Tunnels in New York, as well as the discovery of one of the world’s largest oilfields in Mexico in 1909. Lord Cowdray purchased Dunecht House, a stately mansion where he employed Ashton Webb to decorate and furnish.
There is a 6 cm crack from the rim which divides into arched cracks of approximately 25 cm each. All now consolidated and well restored.
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