An extremely rare famille-rose and lemon-yellow-back charger, Mark and period of Yongzheng | 清雍正 內粉彩麻姑祝壽外檸檬黃地浮雕綠彩水波盤 《大清雍正年製》款

A French private collection.

Sotheby's Hong Kong, 8th October 2009, lot 1602. 

法國私人收藏

香港蘇富比2009年10月8日，編號1602

It is extremely rare to find famille-rose enamelled dishes carved and enamelled on the exterior with crashing waves and no other example appears to have been published. A Yongzheng dish of this size, with reign mark and of the period, similarly decorated on the exterior with a yellow ground and delicately carved and green-enamelled waves, but of ogee form and with a plain white interior, is illustrated in Qingdai yuyao ciqi [Porcelains from the Qing dynasty imperial kilns in the Palace Museum collection], vol. 1, pt. II, Beijing, 2005, pl. 193.

The meticulously carved waves are known on two monochrome dishes also of this size; a yellow-glazed example, in the Leshantang Collection, is published in The Leshantang Collection of Chinese Porcelain, Taipei, 2005, pl. 37; and a white-glazed dish was sold in our New York rooms, 1st June 1993, lot 344. This decorative and colour scheme was employed from the Ming dynasty, as seen on yellow-ground bowls decorated with incised and green-enamelled dragons above crashing waves, which continued through to the Qing period; see a Yongzheng example of this dragon and wave design sold at Christie's Hong Kong, 31st October 1994, lot 570A.

The interior of the present dish depicts Magu, the Daoist Goddess of longevity, returning from an excursion to the mountains in search of lingzhi fungus. Magu is often portrayed as a young and beautiful girl wearing an apron of leaves and carrying a basket of lingzhi fungus or peaches and typically accompanied by a spotted deer, the only animal capable of finding the sacred fungus of immortality. According to legend, after Magu became an immortal she witnessed the ocean changing into mulberry fields three times, hence implying her long life, and the crashing waves on the exterior of the present dish may refer to these events. First appearing on early-Ming porcelain, she gained popularity during the Kangxi period, and dishes of this design were made for women's birthday celebrations.

For a smaller Yongzheng dish, with reign mark and of the period, decorated with a similar scene of Magu on a plain white background, see one sold at Christie's London, 8th December 1975, lot 143.

雍正窰內粉彩外浮雕黃地綠彩海水紋盤，極為珍罕，著錄未見。唯一一例類同尺寸束腰盤，外壁黃地綠彩海水紋，內留白，錄於《清代御窰瓷器》，卷1（下），北京，2005年，圖版193。

其他相同尺寸單色瓷盤並綴浮雕海水紋者，如樂山堂舊藏黃釉盤，著錄於《樂山堂藏瓷》，台北，2005年，圖版37；另一例白釉盤，售於紐約蘇富比，1993年6月1日，編號344。此釉彩、裝飾技法源自明代，如黃地綠彩海水龍紋，胎上以線刻繪龍紋，延續至清；參考一例雍正時期黃地綠彩海水龍紋盤，售於香港佳士得，1994年10月31日，編號570A。

麻姑，女壽仙也，自靈山歸來，滿載仙芝、奇花、壽桃。傳統紋飾中，麻姑形象多為美麗少女，披葉衣，攜靈芝壽桃，身畔仙鹿相伴。傳說麻姑長生不老，曾三度見證滄海桑田，此盤外壁海水紋，或為滄海之意。麻姑圖像首見於早明瓷，盛行於康熙朝，用意祝賀女士壽誕。

比較一例，同為雍窰，尺寸較小，麻姑圖相似，地留白無紋，1975年12月8日售於倫敦佳士得，編號143。