Lot n° 34
Estimation :
8000 - 12000
EUR
Result with fees
Result
: 19 320EUR
RARE AND VERY IMPORTANT PAIR OF CHINESE PORCELAIN... - Lot 34 - Coutau-Bégarie
RARE AND VERY IMPORTANT PAIR OF CHINESE PORCELAIN BALUSTER VASES WITH PAINTED DECORATION IN THE GREEN FAMILY ENAMELS.
Guangxu period (1875-1908).
Painted in the green family enamels, with full decoration on the whole surface of the vases, representing Guanyin and her attendant, sitting in a junk sailing on a river. Chinese officials, one on horseback, accompanied by their bearers, trying to throw gold at them. These vases are painted with a story rarely represented in Chinese decorative arts and featuring Guanyin. The story is a typical mix of fact and fiction involving a Song Dynasty prefect, Cai Xiang (1012-1062), who designed a marble stone girder bridge spanning the Luoyang River just outside the city of Quanzhou, in
Fujian province. According to one version of the legend, Cai Xiang's mother died while crossing the river and he vowed to build a bridge in her memory. As he has no way to do so, Guanyin takes pity on him and comes to his aid. She appears on a boat in the guise of a beautiful woman and promises to marry the first man who can throw money in her lap. Everyone fails in their attempts and soon the boat is so weighted down with gold that it begins to sink. There is then enough money to build the bridge, and Cai is able to fulfill his wish in memory of his mother. This story was the basis for the genesis of two other deities, one Buddhist, the other Taoist. The first involves the Buddhist deity Wei Tuo (Sanskrit: Skanda). According to this version, Wei Tuo was originally a poor fisherman who comes to the river bank, where coins are thrown at Guanyin. He has only a small string of silver, but joins in the hope of winning her hand. The immortal
Lu Dongbin decides to play a trick on Guanyin and makes sure that one of Wei Tuo's coins hits the bull's eye. Guanyin, surprised and dismayed, reveals herself. She has no intention of honoring her promise of marriage, but takes Wei Tuo back with her to the island of Putuo, where he becomes her disciple, and eventually the guardian of Buddhist doctrine. This story is told to explain the placement of the images of Guanyin and Wei Tuo in Chinese Buddhist temples, where their images usually face each other across the hall, looking at each other, but never touching. This placement is playfully called "facing each other, like husband and wife." The story represents a good example of the inevitable mixing of ideologies. Guanyin, a Buddhist deity has been merged with an amalgam of local folk deities and suffers the consequences of interference from Lu Dongbin, a deity from the Taoist pantheon. This pair of vases can be compared to a Kangxi vase from the Rockefeller Collection, now in the Jui Tang Collection (Sotheby's
New York. Embracing Classic Chinese Culture: Kangxi Porcelain from the Jie Rui Tang Collection, March 14, 2014, p. 58). Very good condition.
H. 47.5 cm.
My orders
Sale information
Sales conditions
Return to catalogue