Miscellaneous

Lot 768    SESSION 2 (2.00PM TUESDAY 28TH JULY)    Miscellaneous

Estimate $450
Bid at live.noble.com.au
SOLD $650

CHINA, QianLong Reign Period of Great Qing, (1735 - 1796), fine Chinese hundred butterflies famille rose porcelain bowl, of a deep vessel, steep round sides to flat wide opening rim, raised on slightly concave footed base, the exterior adorned with hand painting of famille rose design depicting colourful butterflies between various flower blooms, banded with double fine blue rings beneath the gilt rings on the rim, the central interior decorated with a butterfly among four seasonal flowers, diameter 190mm, signed to base - six blue seal script - ZhuanShu - characters, QianLong Reign Period of Great Qing. Extremely fine and rare.

The Hundred Butterflies decoration is similar to the Hundred Pleasures but has less emphasis of "long life". The butterfly and bird is a symbol for a young man approaching the woman he loves while the Chinese word for "bird" die is a homophone with the word for "the age of seventy or eighty". The decoration could thus be read as "May you enjoy love and sexual pleasures until old age".