Lot 125 A Chinese blue and white square bowl with figural design

A Chinese blue and white square bowl with figural design

Jiajing mark and of the period

未知

€ 20.000 – € 40.000

WH: H. 6,7 cm, W. 9,9 cm

未知

Of elegant tapering square form rising from a short foot, the bowl is finely painted in underglaze cobalt blue with a continuous frieze of theatrical figures in procession. The lively group includes musicians and entertainers carrying a variety of stage props, all depicted amidst a gently undulating landscape with rocks and stylised vegetation beneath a narrow scroll border. The interior is similarly decorated with two further performers enclosed within a double-square medallion.
Small Jiajing bowls of this unusual square form are rare, particularly examples decorated with figural subjects. Most surviving bowls of comparable shape are instead ornamented with more conventional decorative schemes, such as scrolling lotus, dragons or phoenixes.
此碗造型秀雅，作上寬下收的四方形，下承矮方足。外壁以青花通景繪伶人出行圖，人物包括樂師及手持各式演出道具的藝人，列隊行進於起伏舒緩的山石草木之間，上方環飾一道窄幅卷草紋。碗內青花雙方框內另繪兩名伶人，與外壁題材相互呼應。
嘉靖時期此類小型四方碗本已少見，飾人物題材者尤為罕有。現存器形相近的實例，大多裝飾纏枝蓮、龍鳳等較為傳統的紋樣。
Provenance:
Sotheby's New York, 17 September 2003, 'Fine Chinese Ceramics and Works of Art', lot 121. (see added scans)
Sotheby's New York, 19 March 2007, 'Fine Chinese Ceramics And Works Of Art', lot 757.
S. Marchant & Son, with their label to the base.
The Mr. and Mrs. Baert-Devos Collection, Belgium. Acquired from the above in 2007, according to the owner's inventory notes.
Illustrated:
Marchant, London, illustrated in their 2025 publication 'One Hundred Years', vol II, p. 168, no. 1295.