A FAMILLE ROSE FIGURE OF A DAOIST PRIEST, REPUBLICAN PERIOD

拍品描述

A FAMILLE ROSE FIGURE OF A DAOIST PRIEST, REPUBLICAN PERIOD Height: 17cm Seated upon a naturalistically modelled rockwork base washed in green, blue and ochre glazes, the elderly figure leans slightly forward with his head inclined, his right hand drawn up against his chest to grasp the long red ribbon or sash that falls in undulating folds down the front of his robe. He is shown bare-headed save for a high blue topknot, the crown of the skull left in the white porcelain to render the pale flesh, the brow lined and the cheeks softly sunken, the long white beard and moustache drawn in fine grey strokes. His loose scholar's robe is enamelled in pale lavender-grey and finely diapered overall in sepia and gilt scrollwork, the borders edged in gilding and the inner garment left white. A small footed jar set beside him on the rocky outcrop is painted in famille rose enamels with lotus on a white ground and heaped with what appears to be fungus or lingzhi gathered at its rim. The downward gaze of the figure and the small vessel of lingzhi placed at his side identify him within the broad Daoist iconography of the immortals and longevity sages. The lingzhi, the so-called fungus of immortality, is among the most consistent attributes of Daoist adepts and of Shoulao, the Star God of Longevity, and its presence here, gathered in a vessel rather than held in the hand, suggests the figure has been shown in the act of contemplating his harvest. The red sash drawn through the fingers is a recurring motif in late Qing and Republic period figural porcelain, used to animate the otherwise still seated pose with a vertical accent of saturated colour. Figures of this type belong to a refined tradition of decorative porcelain sculpture that flourished at Jingdezhen from the late Qing into the Republic period, when individual modellers and enamellers signed and exhibited their work and porcelain figures of immortals, scholars and historical worthies were produced for the domestic scholar's studio and for export. The finely stippled and gilt diaper grounds seen on the robe here, combined with the use of reserved white porcelain for the flesh and beard, are characteristic of the better workshop production of the early twentieth century, in which painters trained in the famille rose palette applied the conventions of porcelain plaque painting to three-dimensional figures. The naturalistic polychrome rockwork base, glazed rather than left in biscuit, is a further hallmark of Republic period figural work and distinguishes it from earlier Qing prototypes, where such bases were more often left unglazed. The figure exemplifies the Republic period reinterpretation of the Qing immortal type, in which the iconography of Daoist longevity is preserved while the execution is refined toward the standards of studio porcelain painting. The combination of restrained palette on the robe, vivid red accent in the sash, and freely modelled accessory vessel marks it as the work of a competent Jingdezhen workshop rather than a generic export production.

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