KANGXI 1662 – 1722 Chinese Taste Porcelain
A Fine Early Kangxi Copper Red with Cobalt Blue Porcelain Dish Decorated in the Chinese Taste c.1680-1690. Decorated with Chrysanthemum Among Rocks with a Pair of Large Butterflies Hovering Above. The Back with a `Channel Foot` (effectively a double footrim, the the curved area between the two `feet` is left unglazed, only the outer foot rim supports the dish, the inner rim is too shallow).
SOLD
- Condition
- Damaged, a filled chip with a crack to the rim c.57 mm, it is not a very clean for the first c.30 mm. There is a fine clean crack near this crack c.8 mm.
- Size
- Diameter : 27.8 cm (11 inches).
- Provenance
- N/A
- Stock number
- 22598
Photos
Information
The artistic quality of this dish can be seen not just as mere decoration, laboriously filling the surface with a a pattern, but as something more. The porcelain is incidental, it is merely a convenient surface for a lively well observed painting. The use of copper red, with all it`s complexity of firing, shows us that this dish was singled out for special treatment. The painting consists of underglaze copper red with a rich cobalt blue, sometimes with a wax resist technique, for example the veins on the leaves of the chrysanthemum. The use of brushwork is much more akin to an artist than a decorator, there are confident long strokes varying in width mixed with short lines which look like they have been flicked on to the surface, there are areas of wash with no outline too. This early Kangxi dish would have been made for a Chinese person of scholarly education and tastes.