CHINESE BLUE AND WHITE BOWL WITH EVERTED RIM, 康熙年间 (1662 – 1722)
Diameter: 20.3cms; 8 ins.
Decorated in bright blue tones with gentlemen engaged in the four elegant pursuits. One seated by a low table in a garden reading poetry, one playing the lute whilst a...
Decorated in bright blue tones with gentlemen engaged in the four elegant pursuits. One seated by a low table in a garden reading poetry, one playing the lute whilst a friend listens nearby, one painting a scroll, and three playing the game of Chinese chess or 'weiqi', all amidst bamboo groves and below cloud formations on the everted rim; the interior rim with 'cracked-ice' pattern; the centre of the bowl decorated with a mountainous watery landscape. The base with a double blue ring encircling a stylised blue flower.
The lute was the most revered instrument, credited with the Eight Qualities: happiness, elegance, sweetness, subtlety, sadness, softness, resonance and strength.
