Bottle ID: 635

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BLUE UNDERGLAZE, WHITE-CONTINUOUS SCENE WITH MOUCHUN

Date: 1851-1861

Height: 76 mm

Porcelain with transparent clear glaze on cobalt blue; of tapering cylindrical form with a waisted neck and everted rounded lip and recessed circular foot; painted in underglaze blue with a continuous design of the knight-errant, Curly-Whiskers holding his donkey outside a country residence, in which Li Jing and the Courtesan, Hongfu nu are seen; the scene set between a base border of formalized lotus petals and an elaborate neck band and shoulder mantle of formalized lingzhi, with pendant ‘jewels’ and lotus-leaf lappets, with a single blue line top and bottom; the base inscribed, also in underglaze blue and within a double circle, Mouchun yazhi (‘Elegantly made by Mouchun’).

Attributed to Jingde zhen.

Similar Examples:

Geng Baochang and Zhao Binghua: Zhongguo biyanhu zhenshang, no. 175.

Provenance:

Hugh Moss (HK) Ltd.
Dynasty Arts, CA, 2004

There is a series of bottles by Mouchun, although the others are all in famille rose enamels. This is one of only two known blue and white examples, the other being in the Bloch Collection. The enameled versions are all superbly painted and by comparison with Imperially enameled bottles bearing Xianfeng marks, it is clear that the blue and white examples were probably made at about that time. During the Xianfeng period the Taiping Rebellion swept through Jingde zhen, resulting in confusion, closure of the Imperial kilns and distinct problems of protocol for the potters. They continued to work but were uncertain whether they should be using a reign mark of an Emperor virtually confined to the North of China, or bow to those who were rising against him and who were the virtual rulers of the Jingde zhen region. Some of the enameling skills previously applied to Imperial wares were applied to privately made bottles at the time and this example seems to represent the finest of these wares from a period otherwise undistinguished for its ceramic output. An identical bottle, of the same size, shape, and detailed decoration, although in famille rose enamels, is in the Bloch Collection.

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