Lot 115 A blue and white Chinese 'Qilin and Flying Horses' bowl

A blue and white Chinese 'Qilin and Flying Horses' bowl

Jiajing/Wanli

未知

€ 3.000 – € 6.000

OH: H. 2,8 cm, Diam. 21,1 cm

未知

The bowl is potted with a flared rim and deep rounded sides supported on a foot rim. The centre is painted in underglaze cobalt blue with a qilin leaping amid waves and flames. The interior is encircled by qilin and flying horses soaring among flames, interspersed with clouds. The exterior is decorated with six floral roundels reserved in white against a cobalt blue ground, beneath a continuous floral scroll around the rim and above a band of lotus petals encircling the foot. The base bears the four-character Fugui Jiaqi 富貴佳器 mark within a square.
The qilin and flying horse are both auspicious mythical creatures. The Jiajing emperor’s devotion to Daoism and pursuit of immortality encouraged the widespread use of mythical beasts, auspicious clouds, flames and waves as evocations of the immortal realm, a decorative tradition that continued into the Wanli period.
碗敞口，深弧腹，下承圈足。碗心繪麒麟騰躍於海浪與火焰之間，內壁環繪麒麟與天馬翱翔，伴以火焰紋，間飾如意雲紋。外壁飾六組青花地留白團花，近口處環繪纏枝花卉，近足處飾一周蓮瓣紋。底部青花方框內書 ‘富貴佳器’ 四字款。
麒麟與天馬皆為祥瑞靈獸。嘉靖皇帝篤信道教、追求長生，促使靈獸、祥雲、火焰及海水等帶有仙境意涵的紋飾廣泛見於當時瓷器，並延續至萬曆時期。
Provenance:
Rob Michiels Auctions, Bruges, 24 June 2017, lot 1003. (sold EUR 5.460,00) (link)
The Mr. and Mrs. Baert-Devos Collection, Belgium. Acquired from the above. (see added scan)