Bord - Charger - Porselein - Kangxi - Blue and white

A large Chinese porcelain blue and white ‘phoenix pavilion’ charger.
China, late Kangxi (1661-1722) / Yongzheng period (1722-1735).
The deep large plate decorated in the central roundel with an underglaze blue decoration of three figures in a garden pavilion setting. The cavetto and the rim have several grounds with reserved cartouches decorated with precious objects.
The story seen here is derived from the Yuan-dynasty (1271–1368) play entitled The Stratagem of Interlocking Rings ( Lian Huan Ji). This play by an anonymous author predates one of the four great novels of Chinese classical literature, Romance of the Three Kingdoms (), wherein this same story is being told in chapter eight. See last slide for a woodblock print of this exact scene from Romance of the Three Kingdoms, published by Shu Linzhou in the 19th year of Wanli in the Ming Dynasty.
Note:
The woodblock print, the two books and the wooden stand are not included in the sale.
Ref:
A similar dish was sold by Bonhams, Chinese & Other Asian Works of Art, 27 february 2013, lot 68, hammer price GBP 3,750 inc. premium.
A pair of similar dishes was sold by Bonhams London, Fine Chinese Art, 16 May 2024, lot 98, estimate GBP 5,000 - 8,000, hammer price GBP inc. premium.
A similar plate can be found in the collection of the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, USA.
Lit:
Ni, Yibin (), Reader’s Taste (October 2017): 114-119
Dimensions:
Diameter 37 cm, height 5 cm.
Condition:
Small hairline to the footrim of ca. 3 cm with an accompanying smaller impact line to the edge of the inner footrim, both not showing on the top of the plate. Another small hairline showing to the footrim of ca. 1.5 cm. Furthermore only one tiny frit to the brown dressed rim, there are another three pieces visible that look like small frittings but these are under the glaze and thus a kiln flaw.
Worldwide registered and insured shipping.
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About the story depicted on this plate (taken from the website of Tutuhaoyi):
Dong Zhuo ( d. 192), a tyrannic warlord rising to power at the end of the Han dynasty, caused great concern among courtiers and officials. Wang Yun (), the Minister Over the Masses ( Situ), was entrusted to figure out a plan to bring him down. Dong Zhuo was particularly powerful because he managed to ally with the invincible young general Lv Bu ( Lü Bu), who he had adopted as his son. Wang Yun thought if he could open a rift between the two, then it would be the end of Dong.
Wang Yun first invited Lv Bu to his house to reunite him with his long-lost sweetheart Diaochan (), who was then in Wang’s custody. The couple rekindled the passion immediately and could not wait to be together again. Then, Wang Yun treated Dong for dinner at home during which the lecherous lord was drooling over Diaochan, duly falling into Wang’s trap. Leaping at the chance, Wang Yun offered to marry Diaochan to Dong and Dong readily accepted.
When Lv Bu learned that Dong now had Diaochan in his back chambers, he was furious but had to repress his anger. One day, Lv Bu seized an opportunity to have a rendezvous with Diaochan in the back garden of Dong’s residence when Dong was in audience with the emperor. Realising Lv Bu’s absence from his side, Dong hurried back. Seeing the young couple together in the Phoenix Pavilion, Dong flipped his wig and charged at Lv Bu with Lv’s halberd. The seed of dissension was planted between the two. Without his right-hand man’s support, Dong’s power was weakened, which eventually resulted in his downfall.
One of the earliest sources of this story scene is found in a Yuan-dynasty (1271–1368) play entitled The Stratagem of Interlocking Rings ( Lian Huan Ji) involving the intriguing plot of ménage à trois. The play by an anonymous author predates Romance of the Three Kingdoms (), one of the four great novels of Chinese classical literature, whose earliest preface dated 1494. Chapter Eight of the novel has full-fledged account of this story.


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