A fine and exceedingly rare set of twelve famille-verte ‘month’ cups, Marks and period of Kangxi 清康熙 五彩十二月花神盃一套十二件 《大清康熙年製》款

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  A fine and exceedingly rare set of twelve famille-verte ‘month’ cups, Marks and period of Kangxi
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  First month, Wintersweet | 正月，迎春花

  The first month is represented by two wintersweet trees whose massive gnarled trunks bear delicate, faint yellow blossoms, while the palest green envelops the branches, and two red stems of lingzhi are growing among low-growing shrubs below. The poem reads
  
  The golden blossoms and verdant calyxes bear the chill of spring.
  How many shades of yellow can be found among these flowers?
  
  正月，繪兩棵迎春花樹，樹幹嶙峋多瘤，上開嬌嫩黃花，飾淡綠枝葉。下有灌木叢，長礬紅靈芝成雙。
  
  詩題：「金英翠萼帶春寒，黃色花中有幾般」
  
  
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  Second month, Crab apple | 二月，海棠

  The second month depicts a red-flowering crab apple tree with few leaves and a rock and some smaller blue plants beneath. The poem reads
  
  The fragrance blends with the flavour of evening rain.
  The beautiful colour stands out in clear weatherlike in mist.
  
  二月，描繪一棵海棠樹，紅花盛開，綠葉疏朗，下有青花畫小石灌叢。
  
  詩題：「清香和宿雨，佳色出晴烟」
  
  
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  Third month, Peach | 三月，桃花

  The third month shows a red-flowering peach tree with small blossoms among scant leaves, and further blossoms strewn on the ground among grasses. The poem reads
  
  When the blossoms sway in the breeze, the swallow returns.
  This is the time late in spring when the farmer goes back to his fields.
  
  三月，飾桃樹，紅花怒放，細細密密，綠葉伴隨，草地卻見散落小花。
  
  詩題：「風花新社鷰，時節舊春農」
  
  
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  Forth month, Peony | 四月，牡丹

  The fourth month cup is painted with a cluster of peonies with four red blooms and one yellow, growing behind pierced blue garden rocks. The scene is accompanied by the poem
  
  At dawn its beauty receives dew from a golden palm.
  In the evening the fragrance penetrates deep into the Jade Hall.
  
  四月，畫一叢牡丹，綻開紅花四朵，另見黃花躲鈷青石後。
  
  詩題：「曉艷遠分金掌露，暮香深惹玉堂風」
  
  
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  Fifth month, Pomegranate | 五月，石榴花

  The fifth month shows a pomegranate tree bearing red blossoms and red-and-green fruit, overhanging some lilies and a small auberginecoloured flower. The poem reads
  
  The colour unfolds like the sun on pearl curtains.
  The breeze bears the fragrance in the shade of the white-washed wall.
  
  五月，綴石榴樹一株，開紅花朵朵，結果實纍纍，淡青微紅，樹下並見萱草及淺紫小花。
  
  詩題：「露色珠簾映，香風粉壁遮」
  
  
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  Sixth month, Lotus | 六月，荷花

  The sixth month shows a pair of mandarin ducks swimming in a lotus pond with a kingfisher swooping down from on high, the male duck and kingfisher with colourful plumage, the female duck in a pale greyish aubergine, and the lotus flowers and leavesshown in different stages of maturity. The reverse bears the poem
  
  The roots are like jade gleaming in the mud.
  The hearts contain pearls when dew hasdescended.
  
  六月，描繪鴛鴦成對，泳於荷塘，天邊有翠鳥俯衝飛下。雄鴛翠鳥羽翼斑斕多色，雌鴛則淡紫呈灰。新芽舊葉，蓓蕾穠花，不同之貌，盡在其中。
  
  詩題：「根是泥中玉，心承露下珠」
  
  
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  Seventh month, Orchid | 七月，蘭花

  The seventh month depicts a bed of densely growing yellowish-green orchids with a cluster of rocks in front and some bare prickly branches between, the leaves well shaded in different tones of green. This is accompanied by the poem
  
  The delicate fragrance pervades the spacious hall.
  Like music from lofty terraces far away.
  
  七月，巧繪蘭花，葉片嫩綠淡青，密密叢叢的長於石後，間以帶刺枯枝。
  
  詩題：「廣殿輕香發，高臺遠吹吟」
  
  
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  Eighth month, Cassia | 八月，桂花

  The eighth month shows a small hare seated in the grass beneath a yellow-flowering cassia tree, and the poem
  
  The branches are growing for months without end.
  Once they are laden with blossoms, autumn hassurely arrived.
  
  八月，畫桂樹一棵，綻開黃色小花，小野兔歇息樹下草地上。
  
  詩題：「枝生無限月，花滿自然秋」
  
  
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  Ninth month, Chrysanthemum | 九月，菊花

  The ninth month is represented by a chrysanthemum with pale yellow, red and aubergine blooms and a bare prickly branch, with a pierced garden rock and smaller lowers to both sides and a dragonfly and two butterflies hovering above, the accompanying poem reading
  
  A thousand fills of wine drunk in a plain white robe.
  Throughout the whole life fragrant like a young woman.
  
  九月，繪米黃、礬紅、淡紫菊花，背後見帶刺嶙枝，秀石小花綴兩旁，蜻蜓來訪，蝴蝶雙飛。
  
  詩題：「千載白衣酒，一生青女香」
  
  
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  Tenth month, Rose | 十月，月季花

  The tenth month shows a red rose growing on moss-covered ground, one long stem overhanging some low-growing blue berries, and one prickly stem growing straight upright, with a yellow and a green butterfly on either side, and the poem
  
  Unlike a thousand other species that tire out,
  This one alone blazes in red throughout the year.
  
  十月，畫苔蘚遍野，長月季一株，艷放嫣紅，懸空曲莖婉轉流麗，背有筆挺帶刺枝條，旁有矮叢，結鈷青果子，並見淺黃淡綠蝴蝶，穿梭飛舞花間。
  
  詩題：「不隨千種盡，獨放一年紅」
  
  
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  Eleventh month, Prunus | 十一月，梅花

  The eleventh month depicts a prunus tree with a powerful trunk and two gnarled branches bearing white blossoms with yellow stamens and dark red calyxes, with some small shoots rising from the ground, a tall rock behind, a clump of narcissus and another low rock to one side, and a younger flowering tree to the other, and on the reverse the poem
  
  Simple beauty like a tree frozen with snow.
  Branches moving in the wind full of clearfragrance.
  
  十一月，巧畫早梅，主幹粗壯，枝條多瘤，開點點白花，細飾黃蕊紅萼。一旁初冒新枝，別有水仙藏石後，另一旁則繪幼樹花開。
  
  詩題：「素艷雪凝樹，清香風滿枝」
  
  
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  Twelfth month, Narcissus | 十二月，水仙

  The twelfth month shows two clumps of narcissus, the larger one with a blue rock behind and a single red rose emerging from its midst, and the poem
  
  The spring breeze plays with these gems when daylight arrives.
  When the moon traverses at night, it sendsripples up the long dike.
  
  十二月，描繪兩叢水仙花，一大一小，大者背靠鈷青雅石，另有月季從中出，一枝獨秀。
  
  詩題：「春風弄玉來清晝，夜月凌波上大堤」