Lot 360
BLUE AND WHITE 'MERMAID' LIDDED TEAPOT
QING DYNASTY, KANGXI PERIOD, CIRCA 1710
Fine Asian & Islamic Works of Art
Auction: 3 November 2023 from 09:00 GMT
Description
清康熙 約1710年 青花美人魚圖方壺
of quadrangular ovoid form, attached with a square section handle and straight spout, either side of the body finely painted with a mermaid among reeds with a large fish rising in a pond, the square lid adorned with flower branches and topped with finial
Dimensions
19cm wide
Provenance
Provenance: Private collection, London
Footnote
Note: The decoration, originated from a European engraving of 1676 by S. Le Clerc, illustrated the story of Dirce - one of Venus's less successful rivals who, as a punishment for rivalling her in beauty, was turned into a mermaid and made to fall in love with a carp.
According to David S. Howard's research, "a small number of these teapots are known and the design was clearly specially commissioned - possibly even including the shape of the teapot to accommodate a rectangular engraving." A very similar example is illustrated in his publication The Choice of the Private Trader: Private Market in Chinese Export Porcelain Illustrated from the Hodroff Collection, published by Zwemmer, London, 1994, no. 154, p. 145. Another example in the collection of Groninger Museum, the Netherlands, is illustrated in La Porcelaine des Compagnies des Indes à Décor Occidental, by François et Nicole Hervouët, Flammarison, Paris, 1986, p. 309.
The engraving by S. Le Clerc is illustrated in Metamorphoses d'Ovide en Rondeaux, by Isaac de Benserade, L'Imprimerie Royale, Paris, 1676, p.83. (see image 1)